As promised, GSK Malaysia has made an official statement. The email is from Azariah Tahir, the statement is by her boss.
Encik Amir,
Thank you for your email and please find below as requested.
GSK MALAYSIA GIVES ASSURANCE ON VITAMIN C LEVELS IN RIBENA
As reported in the press, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare in New Zealand (GSK-CH) has accepted charges brought by the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) and has given undertakings to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) with regards to potentially misleading advertising statements and low levels of Vitamin C in some Ribena Ready-to-Drink products manufactured for the Australia and New Zealand markets.
GSK Malaysia has conducted thorough laboratory testing of Vitamin C levels in Ribena. This testing has confirmed that Ribena in Malaysia contain the stated levels of Vitamin C, as described on product labels. GSK would like to reassure its consumers in Malaysia that the issues discussed with the ACCC and NZCC only affects certain Ribena products in Australia and New Zealand.
Ribena has been a favourite with Malaysian consumers for over 48 years (since 1959) years and we would like to reassure our consumers that thorough laboratory testing has confirmed that vitamin C levels in Malaysia are as stated on the label.
GlaxoSmithKline - a leading healthcare company worldwide – maintains stringent quality control of its products. It has an important portfolio of phamaceuticals and consumer healthcare products, including oral care, Over-The-Counter (OTC) medicines, nutritional beverages and vitamins, and is committed to improving the quality of human life allowing people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information, visit http://www.gsk.com.my.
Issued by:
Akhil Chandra
Managing Director, Malaysia & Singapore
GSK Consumer Healthcare
Comments
How you been? Would love to chat with you. ARe you on MSN?
1. Blackcurrants are especially rich in vitamin C and, weight for weight, contain more than three times as much as an orange*.
* Ref: Food Standards Agency (2002) McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods (6th Summary Edition), Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
2. The amount of vitamin C you get from Ribena is stated in the affixed label (per serving size).
Please stop embarassing yourselves by confusing the two.
Ribena has effectively been misrepresenting for 50 years and this is not the first time.
As late as 1999 they even claimed their drink Ribena Tooth Right is tooth friendly. This has since been prooved optimistic.
Ribena is effectively sugared water. Amir, you’ve got lovely daughters. Find out some of the problems sugar does to our kids here: http://www.1800naturalhealing.com/natural-sweetener-sugar-is-not.html
Lovely blog bro.
Victor J Liew
Maybe now we should start question all the ads claim. One thing i notice, all telco claim they have better coverage. "widest coverage", "no 1 in malaysia", and almost all claim the have "millions of user".. haiya, true or not?
we need hardcore evidence to calm the public about this
I miss the ribena-longan drink at williams near limkokwing institute in Damansara when I read about this