BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – The maker of a dietary supplement was sued on Feb. 17 for allegedly spiking its products to artificially inflate the level of protein.
Richard Ferrari filed the class action lawsuit against Vital Pharmaceuticals in a Massachusetts state court, alleging the level of protein in its VPX Stealth Muscle Amplification Lean Mass Gainer is lower than advertised. The defendant removed the case to U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on March 19.
John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse
The lawsuit alleged the wholesale price of whey protein is continually rising, and profit margins are low. As a result, Vital allegedly adds a cheaper compound such as creatine in order to increase the nitrogen content in the VPX product. A common protein content test uses nitrogen as a “tag” to determine the amount of protein in a product, the lawsuit said.
Adding creatine is known as “protein-spiking,” “nitrogen-spiking” or “amino-spiking,” the lawsuit said. Ferrari said the American Herbal Products Association has condemned this practice before.
Ferrari is seeking class status for anyone who purchased the product within the last four years. He is also asking for an unspecified amount of damages plus court costs.
He is represented by Erica C. Mirabella, of Mirabella Law, in Boston; Tina Wolfson, of Ahdoot & Wolfson, PC, in West Hollywood, Calif.; and Nick Suciu III, of Barbat, Mansour & Suciu, PLLC in Detroit.
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts case number 1:15-cv-10998
