The distributors of a new “miracle” diet product‚ which contains very similar ingredients to the Simply Slim products that were banned eight years ago‚ have been forced to cease sales pending a meeting with the Health Department’s law enforcement officials on Monday.

All distributors of the weight-loss product‚ the Secret Fat Burner‚ have been instructed to stop selling it – but its promotional articles insist the real culprits are those behind a rip-off of the original product‚ which bears close resemblance to what Simply Slim distributors said when their product was pulled off the shelves in 2010.

It is still not known who is manufacturing the Secret Fat Burner‚ a R640 weight-loss product sold on the internet that contains the illegal ingredient sibutramine.

Sibutramine was banned in Europe in 2010 after a study found 5 000 people using it for weight loss were more at risk of heart attack‚ stroke or death than the 5‚000 given a placebo.

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