Musclepharm’s Assault Hybrid Series Supplement contained 25 mg per serving of niacin in the form of nicotinic acid.
This is well above the tolerable upper intake level for nicotinic acid of 10 mg per day set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2014.
“Consuming nicotinic acid at levels greater than 10 mg per day may cause vasodilation and flushing, leading to hypotensive episodes (low blood pressure),” the FSAI said in its recall issued on Friday, which covered all batches and flavours of the product.
“Businesses that have sold the implicated supplement directly to consumers must place a point of sale recall notice in store and/or on their website to inform their customers not to consume the supplement. Food business operators should inform their local environmental health officers (EHOs).”
So far neither Musclepharm nor its two official EU distributors Naskor and Prometeus appear to have issued warnings on their websites or social media pages.
MusclePharm, Prometeus and Naskor did not reply to our request for comment in time for the publication of this article.
However on Friday Musclepharm tweeted about the product to its 689,000 Twitter followers.
The FSAI warning will come as the second blow in less than a year to the US-based company.
Last July MusclePharm was the subject of a recall warning from the Norwegian authority, which said its Arnold Iron Dream Concentrated Night Time Recover products contained the toxic fat burner DNP (2,4-dinitrophenol).
MusclePharm and Prometeus maintained any products containing DNP were counterfeit versions of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-endorsed brand.
Yet brand damage proved so great the company was forced to discontinue the line in the EU.
Lars Boers, CEO of Prometeus, told us at the time: “The product name has been damaged by the health authorities to such an extent that further continuation has no point.”