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LONDON: Blackcurrant juice-maker Ārepa, popular amongst sportspeople and seeking to raise $100m to expand globally, has been ordered by regulators to publish a notice saying some of its claimed health and performance benefits are unsubstantiated.

Early last week the website of Ārepa, who describe their product as a “brain drink”, was appended with a notice at the bottom of the front page: “Some of our health claims are in breach of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. Health claims attributed to Enzogenol (pine bark extract) and L-theanine have not been substantiated,” the notice said.

The company said it would be removing or correcting the health claims in question from its product labels and advertisements.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), whose New Zealand Food Safety oversees the code, confirmed the notice was compulsory and said it followed an investigation into Ārepa’s labelling and advertising.

The formal notice came just a week after an investigation into Ārepa finding concerns in Australia over its use of unapproved ingredients and critics in the scientific community who cautioned there was a lack of solid support for the company’s claims its blackcurrant-based drinks and powders boosted mental and athletic performance.

One recent study out of the University of Auckland, touted as proving Ārepa made competitive cyclists faster, came from a sample size of just nine which had led the researchers who conducted the trial to conclude the effects were formally indistinguishable from a placebo.

Angus Brown, Ārepa’s co-founder and co-chief executive, had downplayed any issue with MPI a week prior to the issuing of the notice.

“This issue that you’re talking about with the MPI, there is no issue,” Brown said.

“There’s no major issue. It’s really just the interpretation of the code and how we’re using that on our packaging and our advertising, and there is interpretation within that … At no point has MPI ever come after the science,” Brown said.

“It is really challenging for a growing and learning start-up, we’re learning constantly about the rules and regulations and how we can communicate our science.”

Brown declined the opportunity to address the apparent disjunction between his remarks of two weeks ago and recent developments but said in a written statement MPI had served Ārepa the notice on October 24.

“We continue to work closely with MPI to ensure our product claims are compliant with the ANZFS code,” the statement said.

Brown has recently expressed hopes of raising up to $100m in Series A funding over the coming year to fuel global expansion, after having already raised millions from investors.

Brown said the company was spending millions on clinical trials to try to prove Ārepa had functional mental and physical benefits, and hoped the upcoming results of these might allow substantiated health claims next year.

Deputy director general of New Zealand Food Safety Vincent Arbuckle said their investigation, and subsequent requirement by Ārepa to publish the notice, was done to protect consumers.

“We took this action because we were concerned that consumers were being misled by the claims being made,” he said.

Key were concerns that Ārepa’s claimed cognitive and physical ability-boosting abilities of its purported hero ingredients enzogenol (pine bark extract) and L-theanine were “unsubstantiated”.

Arbuckle said this sort of regulatory action was atypical as companies usually complied voluntarily. “It is unusual for us to have to take such directed action with a company,” he said.

“Ultimately it is the company’s responsibility as a food producer to ensure the claims it makes to consumers meet legal requirements and are substantiated.”

Arbuckle said Ārepa would remain on his radar: “The company is now under notice and legally required to improve its labelling and advertising. We will closely monitor their compliance.”