Herbalife rebuffs lead allegations

Herbalife Ltd., which sells nutritional supplements and weight-loss products, rebuffed claims that its products contain high levels of lead, saying lab testing showed no unsafe quantities of lead.

Herbalife said Sunday it retested multiple product batches at both a U.S. and a European lab. The company said the testing confirmed its products do not contain high enough levels of lead to require a special label under a California disclosure requirement.

The company said it did the test to respond to allegations that its products contain unsafe levels of lead. The allegations were leveled last month by a group called the Fraud Discovery Institute, led by Barry Minkow, who started the group after serving a sentence for fraud at his own former company ZZZZ Best Co. Minkow has been a vocal critic of Herbalife and says he is currently shorting the shares to finance his investigation of the company.

Herbalife said Minkow's allegations prompted inquiries from authorities in Singapore, Poland and Hong Kong.

Steve Henig, Herbalife's chief scientific officer, said many foods and products made with natural ingredients contain small amounts of naturally occurring lead that do not pose any risk to consumers.

Herbalife also said that Peruvian authorities are not leaning toward a ban of all Herbalife products in response to a release from Minkow's group.

"There has been no issue with the Peruvian authorities," the company said.