The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) referred Imtenan Health Shop to the prosecutor general’s office after receiving a complaint that the company was selling an unregistered and unlicensed wheat germ.
Imtenan sells nutritional and organic products such as foods, diet, energy, immunity, and skin-care products. The company also claims to sell nutritional supplements for some chronic medical conditions. Food products sold to the public are mandated by law to be registered at the Ministry of Health and the National Nutrition Institute (NNI).
Chairman of the CPA Atef Yacoub said a committee of theirs visited the company to investigate the status of the unregistered product and that the product is still in the process of being registered.
“If a product claims special health benefits, it should validate such claims that through NNI,” Yacoub told the Daily News Egypt. The company should have not introduced the product to the market before completing the registration process.
“If a product is not registered, it is as if it does not exist,” Yacoub said.
The founder of Imtenan Health Shop could not be reached for comment.
In April, the company faced similar charges when it was referred to the prosecutor general after selling special dietary products. CPA stated that the company has falsely claimed that the honey it sells was registered at NNI, which CPA denied.
According to CPA, the company forged the registration number on its honey bottles and misleadingly claimed that it was the first honey in the Middle East to receive the ISO 9001 quality certificate, something the company was unable to prove when questioned.
CPA said the company also labeled product “natural honey butter”, which is misleading since a small percentage of oils in pure honey does not allow for its separation.
“Thick honey or honey cream, which the product was, is not the same as honey butter,” CPA said.
