MonaVie Uses EarthFruit’s Mid-Grade Acai (and Doesn’t Harvest or Freeze-Dry Their Own)

Dallin Larsen’s Sister-In-Law Introduces EarthFruits Sales Manager as a Monavie Employee

I found another piece of evidence indicating that EarthFruits and Monavie are the same entity. This video posted on Youtube features MORE Project director Kathy-Holt Larsen (Dallin Larsen’s sister-in-law) introducing EarthFruits sales manager Marshal Snarr as an employee of Monavie:

“Hey everyone it’s Katy-Holt Larsen from the MORE Project…and we have Marshall Snarr from Monavie here.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iSvTsJtlDk
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marshall-snarr/6/918/571

To qoute the boy wonder Robin “Holy S** Batman”.

Funny how 5 years ago was when MV officially launched as well to tie in with, “The company [Bony Acai], which is five years in the market.”

Thanks Joe. Maybe we will someday. FT?

I also found some shipping bills of lading showing that Monavie/EarthFruits also purchased bulk acai from a company called Dibony, which holds the patent on Bony Acai, a competing acai beverage (marketed in the U.S. by Two Harbors Trading). I’ll post more on this later today.

You could probably get pricing information and a list of other customers from Bela Iaca.

Yes, it appears that EarthFruits is nothing more than a middleman — at best. It seems to be just a disguise so that Monavie’s name doesn’t appear on any shipping waybills. It also gives Monavie a cover so that people won’t recognize that they are buying from the same sources as their competitors and using the same acai as is used in many run of the mill (i.e., not miracle-inducing) acai products

Or maybe, just maybe, that’s the acai in your Sambazon.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm……………….????????

I’m going to let you do the digging. Do your due diligence. Working both sides of an issue is healthy for the brain.

Let’s see if you can come up with something. I’ll start- Monavie puts the high quality freeze dried acai in their juice blends. Monavie sells the “not high quality” acai to companies which manufacture and distribute acai products.

This one should keep you up for weeks and might just blow this whole blog to pieces. I want you to put your bias aside (as difficult as that might be) and go get The Truth. Happy hunting!

The poster who goes by the name “The Truth” is just another typical lying a-hole from the Monavie camp. Disinformation is the cornerstone of their business strategy. Monavie does not supply acai to Sambazon. Sambazon uses certified organic acai and proves it by displaying the USDA seal on their bottle label. Monavie uses cheap low-grade non-organic acai purchased from nonexclusive food/ingredient manufacturers in Brazil. Sambazon’s market share makes Monavie’s sales look totally insignificant (same with Bolthouse Farms, which also has acai products for sale in supermarkets around the country). This shipping bill of lading from Sambazon proves what I’ve said. It shows that the acai is organic and that the supplier is different from any of the acai suppliers Monavie uses.
http://www.iealing.com/tn/shipper/2007/A/ACAIDOAMAPAAGROINDUSTRIALLTDACN.html

Vogel said it well and he proved it. I’ll say it a different way though…

The Truth,

You have to qualify what a lead is. It’s comes with some facts attached. For instance, I’ll take you through how I wrote an article about MonaVie lying about it’s ORAC score. A MonaVie proponent (maybe a distributor, maybe not, I can’t tell) came to me and said, “You should read this study by Dr. Schauss, he’s shown that MonaVie is really healthy. As soon as you read it, you’ll change your mind about this site.” So I read the study. It’s full of holes that even a layman can see doesn’t make sense. However, in that study, there was tested proof of MonaVie’s tested ORAC score (2690 per four ounces). I cross-referenced that with what a previous MonaVie distributor said about MonaVie having a 5000 ORAC score per for ounces. I then found the official MonaVie document with a few quick searches of Google. It was literally about 10-15 minutes of my time to write the article proving that MonaVie was lying was about it’s ORAC score. Those were solid leads I had been given that could be verified with just a little Internet research of information in the public domain.

The Truth did not provide a solid lead here. He needs to provide link to the information in the public domain that supports his claim, just like the MonaVie proponent did when he/she linked me to Dr. Schauss’ paper. The Truth’s goal here is just to send me on a snipe hunt (or Fool’s Errand). I’m not going to take that bait. I have a pile of evidence to support my claims on this site. It is up to The Truth to bring his/her own evidence to table to support his claim.

I’m open-minded about MonaVie. I’m waiting for some convincing arguments that refute all the information on the home page of this site.

The Truth doesn’t have a clue on how ingredient procurement works in the food and beverage industry.

If a corporation owns a juice producer and an ingrdient supplier, the juice producer is going to buy from their own ingredient supplier first. The juice producer would be allowed to use secondary ingredient suppliers in an emergency.

The idea that MonaVie would buy their acai powder from another supplier because their own company’s acai powder isn’t good enough, is absurd.

If MonaVie really used some “super acai powder”, not found in other juices, don’t you think the winged monkeys from their marketing department would jump on that?

Clearly, the label would use the name of the super powder, followed by an asterisk. The asterisk would lead to any documented ORAC values of this super powder.

All that’s indicated on the ingredient statement is acai powder and acai puree.

Vogel has proven, without a doubt, that the acai puree is previously frozen (meaning that it may have been in a freezer warehouse for a year), low-grade quality.

He has also shown that Earthfruit (MonaVie’s company) buys standard freeze-dried acai powder from Liotecnica. This powder doesn’t have any relation at all to the acai concentrate that Dr. Schauss salivates over when he slithers on stage.

Also, everything being presented is corroborated by lab tests showing low anthocyanin levels in MonaVie. This is exactly what would be expected if the product was using poor quality acai.

So, why would we expect you to know the answer? Are you someone with firsthand knowledge of plant operations or procurement? Or are you just some distributor amking up things along the way?

Found yet another interesting bill of lading. This one, dated April 10, 2007, describes a shipment of frozen organic acai pulp from Bela Iaca (Monavie’s acai supplier) to BBRStates Import/Export (Universal Taste Inc.) in Florida (BOL# MOLU781641058)
http://www.importgenius.com/shipments/bela-iaca-industria-e-com-polpa-de.html

[Note that this is a higher quality acai pulp than the non-organic version, containing 11%-12% solids, which Monavie used.]

Universal Taste Inc. is the distributor of acai products sold under the name “Acai Power” http://www.universaltaste.com/

Apparently, this company, like Monavie, runs a substandard dishonest operation. They have been cited by the FDA for misbranding, poor quality control, and illegal disease treatment claims.
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm183392.htm

I have only been able to post these specific examples that turned up on various Google searches. Import Genius provides access to all BOLs, but only to subscribers.

A few new facts for everyone to ponder…

We have discussed in the past that the price of acai in Brazil has been steadily increasing.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ai8WCgSJrhmY

As I recall, Food Tech was the first to comment that this would open the door for Monavie to cut back on the amount and/or quality of acai used in their products. We recently established that the acai they used was never very good to begin with (i.e., non-organic and only 11%-12% solids vs. the organic +14% used in other products) and that the juice itself seems to contain very little acai, based on the reported levels of anthocyanins and proanthocyanadins (i.e., Men’s Health analysis, AIBMR study, Food Tech’s analysis, and USDA database).

This also got me thinking more about the possibility that Monavie might have adulterated their juice. So I did a Google search and found a couple of interesting items. The first, from the FDA’s website, was a presentation by an expert from Consumer Lab; the talk was titled “Economically Motivated Adulteration in the Dietary Supplement Market Place”. The presenter identifies acai juice as “ripe” for potential product adulteration, and mentions that Chinese acai has entered the market. He also notes that “economic adulteration is highly likely to occur with fad and expensive ingredients or during times of shortage”.
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/NewsEvents/MeetingsConferencesWorkshops/UCM163645.ppt

I then found this interesting article (“Court finds pomegranate juice is not so super”) which discusses the $1.5 million court ruling against a third-rate juice supplier that was claiming their product was a pure pomegranate juice, when in fact, analyses showed that it “consists primarily of cane sugar and corn sweetener, and contains little pomegranate solids.”
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Publications/Food-Beverage-Nutrition/NutraIngredients-USA.com/Industry/Court-finds-pomegranate-juice-is-not-so-super

Next, I found this very interesting article published by Canada’s national health agency. It describes how several widely advertised acai supplements were found to be adulterated/spiked with sildenafil, better known as Viagra.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Important-Information-About-Acai-Berry-Products-Containing-Prescription-Medication-1087440.htm

These acai products have been denied entry into Canada and a general warning was issued in connection with 7 of the supplements identified: Anti-Aging Acai Berry, Guarana Blast, Brazillian Pure, Anti-aging Vital Rez V, Weight Loss VitalAcai, Dietary Supplement Acai Power Blast, and Muscle Mass.

Some of these products/companies were also named in Oprah Winfrey’s false advertising lawsuit (along with Monavie).
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13179813

At least two of the suppliers of the Viagra-spiked acai supplements are traceable back to Utah: Acai Power Blast (Riverton UT) and Pure ResV (Ultra Relief LLC, aka Performance Health USA, aka Nutra Pure Systems; Orem, UT). Both have been rated F by the BBB.
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/health-and-medical-products-scientifically-unproven/acai-power-blast-in-riverton-ut-22243881
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/health-and-diet-products-retail/ultra-relief-in-orem-ut-22216155
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Bait-and-Switch/Performance-Health-U/performance-health-usa-nutra-m9a6x.htm

It’s difficult to identify some of the other suppliers because the product websites often don’t provide a company name or detailed contact information, and they use various shell companies and DBA names.

As you may recall, several other acai supplement companies have recently been sued by State Attorneys General in Illinois, Connecticut, and Texas.
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2009_08/20090819.html
http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=3673&Q=436978
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=3064

So clearly, the acai situation in the U.S. has spiraled out of control. There are serious chronic issues with illegal advertising, poor quality ingredients, ingredient substitution, product adulteration, credit card fraud, etc. It has become a shameful mess and the name acai is quickly becoming synonymous with scam. This undeservedly harms the reputation of legitimate producers of acai beverages and threatens to undermine the growing acai industry in Brazil.

My guess is that most of these acai scams can be traced back to a few acai suppliers in Brazil (like Bela Iaca) and a few middlemen/brokers in the U.S. (like EarthFruits, a division of Monavie). I strongly suspect that Monavie and/or Alexander Schauss are tied up in all of this. They have at least used the same ingredient suppliers as some of the other acai scam companies; it’s also likely that Monavie and/or its middlemen have acted as brokers for ingredients sold to other notorious supplement companies (and it might even go deeper than that).

This would explain why Monavie claimed to have such fantastic revenue growth in 2007-2008, even though their income disclosure statement was showing a severe decline in distributor revenue. It would be logical that a veteran scammer like Larsen (who honed the art of deception through his tenure as top dog with USANA and Dynamic Essentials/Royal Tongan Limu) might try to shore up Monavie’s poor earnings by brokering acai to other smaller companies. The profits from such transactions would directly benefit Monavie executives while bypassing the distributors and it would artificially inflate the company’s revenue claims, which they in turn could use to misleadingly promote the company’s success, thereby attracting new distributors (e.g., using the Inc 500 list).

The possibility that Monavie has adulterated their products with drugs (e.g. caffeine, etc.) is also a distinct possibility, as this would explain: (a) why some people are so convinced that they noticed differences in energy/sleep patterns, appetite, etc.; and (b) why some people have reported odd adverse reactions to Monavie, such as heart palpitations (see link below).
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/86/topic/661606

And why, you may be thinking, did acai get to be so overhyped in the first place? The answer seems to be that the notion of acai as a “superfruit” is based mainly on Alexander Schauss’ acai research, which was poorly executed, apparently rigged, and deceptively biased because Schauss disguised the fact that he had a direct financial interest in the ingredient featured in his study. It seems to me that acai’s superfruit status is nothing more than a figment of Monavie’s imagination and the product of a purposely misleading media blitz that they have launched over the past 5 years. The illegal miracle cure claims about acai are also mainly Monavie’s doing.

Ultimately, this has to implode soon. Too many governmental agencies and consumers are scrutinizing acai and Monavie. I don’t see how these scams can survive much longer.

I’ve heard some very disturbing accounts from the supervisor at a plant that manufactures supplements for MLM companies. The alcholic CSO ordered him to use use adulterants and fillers, and to use ingredients that were contaminated with mould, insects, and rodent droppings. He refused, but they did it anyway during the next shift when he was wasn’t there.

Hello,
Great posts, thank you Vogel and Food Tech for your work.
I think Acai got it’s initial hype from the Perricone book more than the Schauss study. What are your thoughts?

Thanks Martin and welcome to the discussion. I haven’t read Perricone’s book, but if he was touting acai as a superfruit, he surely must have based that opinion on some published research; which research that might be, I can’t imagine. Other than Schauss’ 2 biased studies, I haven’t seen any research that suggests acai is super. Thoughts?

Acai Berry Research for Chronic Disease

Cancer

The University of Florida conducted a study that showed acai extracts triggered a self-destruct response in up to 86 percent of leukemia cells tested. Researchers described the results as encouraging because compounds that act against cancer cells in a controlled setting are likely to benefit the body.

In the study, 6 chemical extracts were made from acai fruit pulp, and each extract was prepared in 7 concentrations. When applied for 24-hours, 4 of the extracts were shown to kill significant numbers of leukemia cells.

Depending on the extract and concentration, the solutions killed 35-86% of cancer cells.

http://news.ufl.edu/2006/01/12/berries/

Yes, we’ve discussed Talcott’s in vitro study on acai extracts on Lazyman’s site. This study would not be a legitimate basis for calling acai a superfruit. Lots of compounds will affect cells in a test tube, while failing to produce similar effects in whole organisms. Vitamin C would probably have the same effect as acai extracts in vitro. That doesn’t make vitamin C a superfruit anymore than Talcott’s results suggest that acai is a superfruit.

Although mostly a marketing invention, the term “superfood” is generally taken to mean a food that has high amounts, relative to most other foods, of various nutrients. I don’t see any reliable research on acai that fits that bill. And even if acai is “super” it’s certainy not more so than our own local superfruits like fresh berries; no need to buy processed sludge shipped by slow boat from another continent (which also has a huge carbon footprint). Buy fresh and locally-grown produce instead

Amazon Thunder??? Why go from one stupidly expensive MLM juice to another? Amazon Thunder is $30 a bottle. Who cares if it’s organic; at that price, it’s almost as much of a ripoff as MOnavie. No one is suffering from acai deficiency — you don’t need acai when there are so many other alternatives. If you really like the tase of acai or want to have the odd bottle in your juice rotation for variety, buy something sensibly priced like Sambazon or Knudsen’s acai juice — both are organic and neither involve MLM.

That site does appear down, however this site seems to promote mostly Earthfruits products.
http://www.powersupplements.com/acai/acai-earthfruits.html

EarthFruits ( http://www.earthfruits.com/ ) is working fine for me today.

Is there a chance that Monavie sometimes orders from these companies but not all the time? Isn’t there a chance that Monavie still employs many harersters and they they do indeed have their own processing plant there?

Is there a chance that Monavie uses these companies for their Gel Packs or Energy Drink but not the Juices?

Also show me where it any of those shipping bills that it shows that Monavie’s Freeze dried acai is not of high quality? Maybe for the puree they don’t use top quality but for

Have you guys went to Monavie directly and asked them these questions? That would seem to make sense.

Also Vogel I understand you are against Monavie but some things you have pointed out have no basis such as Monavie is using Viagra in their product or just using cane sugar and corn syrup and that Monavie is tied into all of this. I think that is going overboard. Also showing your breastcancer blog where someone mentioned they had heart palpitations. That has no sound evidence at all. Then another statement that an Mlm was making a person put mold and rat poison and trying to make people think that Monavie is doing these same things. That really just seems like you are going overboard to prove your point and I don’t believe that is fair at all.

I respect your natural skepticism but I think you are going way overboard with some of your points.

Found a very interesting little sleight of hand trick. Monavie did a chop job on an old video showing how Monavie is allegedly made, from harvest to bottling. The original video has been circulating for at least a couple of years — a version was posted to YouTube on March 11, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npF1eiEzv_g&feature=related

I was struck by the fact that the stock footage they used in the original video showed an acai manufacturing plant that clearly had nothing to do with Monavie — I suspect that it is a facility belonging to a competitor, likely Sambazon. At 1:14, the camera zooms in on the logo (a large S) of the processing plant. At 1:20, workers with the same S-logo on the backs of their t-shirts are shown processing acai (other shots appear at 1:40 and 1:51).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npF1eiEzv_g&feature=related

Monavie is circulating a new re-edited version of this video with a new vociover and title (Monavie: An Extraordinary Process). Strikingly, the re-edited version has the portions showing the processing facility and the workers edited out. In addition, the footage in the original version of a harvester climbing an acai palm tree and workers carrying baskets of acai berries of the video are replaced in the edited version with a new sequence showing a guy in a Monavie t-shirt climbing an acai palm tree (0:23) and some guys in Monavie t-shirts carrying baskets of acai (0:39).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_hblxGzMu8

If you sync the two videos up just right, you can see very clearly where they edited out sections from the old version and replaced them with the new footage. One would have to surmise that they did this for two reasons: (1) Monavie used the original footage to misrepresent a competitor’s acai processing facility as their own, and they didn’t want to get caught; and (2) they are trying to misrepresent their role in the harvesting and processing of acai — in reality, they aren’t directly involved in either; rather they buy low-grade processed citrate-preserved frozen acai puree shipped by unrelated suppliers via cargo ship from Brazil to the U.S. via Panama).

Monavie…drink it, feel it, bullsh-it!

I don’t need an off-topic lecture on the finer points of video editing. The company used footage of a processing plant that was not theirs; at the same time, they had been claiming that they had their own people on the ground in Brazil harvesting and processing the berries and that Monavie was in control of production every step of the way. We found evidence showing that this was a lie. They buy their acai (low-grade to boot) from non-exclusive bulk manufacturers in Brazil, and they aren’t at all involved in the harvesting and processing of the acai.

They deliberately misled people in the original video by showing them footage of a processing plant that didn’t belong to them, and they they later edited it out and added in a few sequences of Brazilians in Monavie t-shirts to make it look, again, as though Monavie had their own employees in the field harvesting and processing acai.

Just stop the F-ing charades already. You want to go to bat for this company? That makes you a greedy fool and a liability to society.

Just something of note…..

Has Monavie every actually said they have their own processing plant in the amazon? Or was it just claimed by us misinformed distributors. Also does it really make a difference or not if Monavie has it’s own Plant?

I think what Monavie has done however is worked with some of the biggest suppliers in the Amazon and Brasil of the Acai berry. I believe they have helped and formed a certain partnership with these companies to pay some of their workers. I think relying on these native harvesters is the best way to go about it since they have the expertise here. Monavie probably employed extra harvesters for these suppliers because there was going to be so much more production.

I got this from the Link that Foodtech posted…

Earthfruits Acai is simply outstanding in terms of quality. Earthfruits has established partnerships with the growers and manufacturers in Brazil that allow it to produce incredible Acai. Earthfruits has contracts with the three largest Acai berry suppliers in Brazil. By working with companies like Bony Acai (located right in the Amazon Rainforest), Earthfruits is able to ensure that Acai is frozen within 12-18 hours from when it is picked.

Earthfruits also works with Liotecnica – a Brazilian company who has been in the food dehydration business for over 45 years. Liotecnica is one of the pioneers in the freeze dry technology and has incredible expertise when it comes to freeze drying Acai. By working with Liotecnica in Brazil, Earthfruits ensures that the Acai is freeze dried at the absolute highest quality.

Earthfruits Acai has the following advantages:

* Organic Freeze Dried Acai
* ORAC value of over 700 per gram of freeze dried Acai
* No seeds are used – just the skin and pulp of the Acai Berry
* All Acai is frozen within 12-18 hours of being picked
* Works with the largest Acai growers in Brazil
* Acai processed in state of the art facilities
* Fairly Traded and Sustainable Acai practices
* Employees local Brazilian workers so they can profit directly from the Acai trade
* Involved in education and assistants programs to help the indigenous people of the Amazon Rainforest

Is Earthfruits model of Fair Trade and Sustainability working?

Oh Yes! There is no longer a division between environmentalist and capitalist – they are now one in the same. As we said, residents of the Amazon Rainforest can actually make more money by harvesting Acai than by selling the trees as lumber. This is so amazing to us, we will say it again – it is more PROFITABLE for locals to maintain the trees in the Amazon Rainforest than it is to chop down the trees and sell the wood.

Recap:

If you are looking for quality Acai, you want Earthfruits Acai. If you are looking for a company that is having a positive impact on the environment and the planet, you want Earthfruits Acai. If you are looking for a company that helps the people of the Amazon Rainforest, you will love Earthfruits Acai.

It seems to me that Earthfruits is supplying some other companies with acai or they are making different products. Could it be then that Monavie/Earthfruits is buying some of this 11%-12% puree for these other companies? Who really knows what exactly they are using them for we truly have no found evidence of that.

However it seems to me that Earthfruits has different products and is selling to different companies.

Also what I gathered from that website is alot of things that Monavie states as far as helping to pay these workers so that it’s more beneficial for them to pick the berries than to chop down trees is being used by earthfruits. Also it talks about the education and assisting of workers and people of the Amazon which Monavie has done and is doing near Rio with the More Project.

So it is most def possible that Monavie could be using earthfruits as a company to make other Acai products and that some of those bills that your are finding are specifically being used for those products. Again there is no way way to really know what exactly each shipment is being used for….

Steve, I couldn’t help but notice that your latest cut-and-paste was not accompanied by a link. The only place I could find the same information you posted was on this wonky looking site that has nothing to do with either Earthfruits or Liotechnica. Hardly a reliable source.
http://www.powersupplements.com/acai/acai-earthfruits.html

Where to begin in dissecting the information you posted…the acai powder they describe is not the same acai powder that Monavie says they use in their juice (Monavie says that there’s has an ORAC of 1027 per gram but this has only 700 per gram). Also, if this supplement company is selling the same acai as is used in Monavie, then obviously it’s not an exclusive ingredient to Monavie.

Steve said: ” Could it be then that Monavie/Earthfruits is buying some of this 11%-12% puree for these other companies? Who really knows what exactly they are using them for we truly have no found evidence of that. However it seems to me that Earthfruits has different products and is selling to different companies.”

Yesterday you were raving against what you alleged was idle speculation and baseless opinion, and now today you throw out a red herring like this? Why don’t you do some real research and make yourself useful by finding answers to these questions. And when you do, post them here along with reliable sources to back them up.

I do, however, strongly suspect that you are right. I think that Monavie/EarthFruits is supplying acai to all of those acai supplement scammers that were sanctioned and heavily fined by the FTC. This might also explain why Monavie claims to be a billion dollar company; their revenue comes in part from being a middleman to other acai scammers.

If what you speculated were true, then Monavie would be guilty of the worst form of deceit — they would have kept it a secret from their distributors that they in fact are supplying and profiting from acai products that compete with Monavie. They would be completely undermining their distributor force for the sake of backdoor revenue, which the distributors would not get to share.

It’s a lose-lose proposition no matter how the evidence is interpreted. Either Monavie is using low-grade acai to produce their juice, and then misrepresenting it as a high-grade product, or they are supplying acai to other supplment companies and secretly competing with their own distributors.

Sold to the Devil hahaha…….

I’m good man ……..I know Monavie is a good product as evidence by my experience and others with the product just trying to make some sense of things

Let me put this way,

Steve is probably a distributor of this Monavie juice and he does not care whats in it. He cares about ripping people off and making promises that its not true.

The devil’s advocate……..

Has Monavie ever actually stated that they do have their own processing facilities ? Or did distributors just assume that?

Of course it matters because you guys are stating that Monavie is trying to proclaim this and are proud of it when they have never even come out and stated this………..

To me it doesn’t really matter if Distributors think this or not as it really has no effect on anything of substance

If you mean does MonaVie own a production plant, then I’m pretty sure the answer is no. The common practice for an untested beverage from a new company would be to have it co-packed. This means that an established bottler does the production. When MonaVie says their processing facilities, I take it to mean the operation that they use as a bottler.

Just curious Tom; how much acai is in Monavie??? And include a link so we can verify for ourselves.

There is 25% of acai in the European formula of MV Original and Active.

[Editor's Note: The amount in the US is undisclosed: see http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-uses-earthfruits-mid-grade-acai-and-doesnt-harvest-or-freeze-dry-their-own/comment-page-2/#comment-7605. It begs the question why MonaVie doesn't disclose it in the US. Are there two types of MonaVie - a US and a European version?]

But do not compare this to Costco’s or any other formula that has 90% or more acai. This cannot be compared together. MV uses freeze-dried acai and other companies in most cases use low-grade acai with reduced nutritional content due to the fact they use acai that was spray-dried. Acai is a tropical fruit which degrades very quickly. MV’s freeze-drying process is patented. [Editor's Note: It has been mathematically proven that MonaVie has little freeze-dried MonaVie, see: http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-is-less-than-2-freeze-dried-acai/. So MonaVie's product can be compared to others. So much for that patent - you can get a lot of freeze-dried acai elsewhere]

That is right MV is not acai only. [Editor's Note: Which is unfortunate because MonaVie and its distributors likes to pretend it is synonymous with acai.] There is another aspect which one should take into consideration. Synergy of other 18 fruits. Most one ingredient-based diets do not provide as much value as carefully selected group of fruits, rich in anti-oxidants which you have in MV. [Editor's Note: There is little evidence of this "synergy." There's no comparing MonaVie to actually eating fruit... since MonaVie seems to strip out the fiber, vitamins, and minerals that real fruit would provide.]

The kind of distribution that MV chose to implement makes perfect sense, as TV advertising would mean waste of money as MV targets in reality only up to 10% of health-conscious people. Word-of-mouth advertising works much better with wellness products. [Editor's Note: It's very odd that many other products that outsell MonaVie use TV advertising. It's convenient for MonaVie that it's distributors make the illegal claims in word-of-mouth advertising that it can't make (the kind of thing that shut down Dallin Larsen's previous company, Royal Tongan Limu)]

MV is only food, it does not cure or heal any disease. By the way, most pharmaceutical products do not cure anything either. [Editor's Note: They do treat illnesses which MonaVie does not.] If anyone saw “Food Matters’ then they know what I mean. MV only helps our body in the process of self-healing by providing good nutrition. [Editor's Note: Except that Men’s Journal Proves MonaVie Lacks Nutrition. So why not just focus on the unprocessed foods that do provide good nutrition.]

Tom, I specifically asked for a link to validate your claim. Monavie doesn’t list the percentage of acai nor any other fruit on the label; so where are you getting your information? Where are you getting your information regarding the product Costco sells or any other product containing acai? How do you know the quality of the acai?
If you can’t provide any proof then you’re simply pulling this out your arse….Dope.

Tom, I reside in the US and don’t have access to MV from any of those foreign countries. I do though have access to the label from MV distributed here, in America. It only lists the ingredients not the percentage of each. Please send me a link so I can view these bottles of MV from Poland, France….Still a dope.

I did some responding to Tom’s comments above. I also deleted ones that were essentially name calling.

Tom, I’ve only deleted about 80 words of your content. All of them were directly related to Aussie’s life which has no impact on the juice.

This blog is my home. I invite people in for a civil discussion. This should not be taken as an invitation to insult me or my friends.

The percent of pulp is not important, because the acai pulp is added to a product (monavie) with several other ingredients that has to, by law, have a certain brix or % solids content. The % solids is reported as a measure of the moisture content. If you want to learn more about fruit juice, brix, and solids laws, please visit http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=101.30&SearchTerm=fruit%20juice. MonaVie products are all 100% fruit juice, except for Emv, which is 80% fruit juice. The beginning amount of % solids from acai puree does not make a difference in the end, what is more important, or may be important to you, is the % fruit juice of the finished product. The percent solids just lets the buyer know what is the right % to buy for use in his/her product and what type of product they are producing.

A percentage of pulp that is too high, would cause manufacturing problems if you decided to make a fruit juice. You have to have the right percentage to start with. If a company making acai fruit juice, bought acai puree with percent solids that were too high, say 14%, they would have to add more water to make their fruit juice, than if they just initially bought the acai puree with 12% solids. With 18 other fruit concentrates and purees, we have to choose the right % of solids in our acai puree that is most applicable for our products.

For example, if we used an acai puree with 60% solids, it would be thicker than Karo syrup.

Freeze-dried acai is freeze-dried, which means most, if not all, of the water is removed. “Freeze-Dried Acai is 100% solids, which means no water remains in the Freeze-Dried Acai product after it goes through our patented process.” However, once the freeze-dried acai is added to our product, it is no longer a solo ingredient with a certain % of solids, because it is now in a 100% fruit juice, that abides by fruit juice regulations and guidelines established by the FDA.

There are legal limits to the maximum or minimum amount of water that must be present in certain types of food.

If you don’t fully understand what I’m trying to explain, it might be better for you to some research online, and retrieve information from reputable sources. It might be explained better somewhere else for you.

well said vogel. way to puthim in his place

Very odd that you say that MV adds Viagra to the juice… do you have any evidence of this?

Not Sold: “My point is that you, and some of the fanatics that frequent your blog, seem to have gone a little OTT with your MV conspiracy theories.”

Hi dick! By way of introduction, I am the one to whom you refer as “fanatic” (nice way to ingratiate yourself BTW). If you want to back up any of your complaints about my posts, then go ahead. Which so-called “theories” are “over the top”, and be specific? You really should be prepared to back up your smack-talk, but I would wager that instead you’ll come back with some response about how you’re too busy/important/bored to bother wasting your time — but if you do that, it will be pretty clear that you’re just another trolling chicken$hit trashtalker.

Not Sold said: “But honestly, I get a mental picture of some lunatic foaming at the mouth as he discredits every piece of information, trolls the internet for sales figures ‘that are obviously hiding something and very embarassing for MV’ and refutes serving sizes because they don’t illustrate your point well enough.”

Really? I think your mental pictures are crudely drawn in crayon. I, on the other hand, get a picture of an MLM-apologist-Monavie-distributing troll trying to stir up trouble with vague unfounded accusations. Who else would have a problem with people who put facts and educated opinions on the table? Couldn’t help but notice that you are yet to offer either.

I also fail to see what the point of contention is for Not Sold.

From my interpretation of Vogel’s post, which is well researched and evidenced, I can see his point concerning an overly-hyped product, much of which is not adequately substantiated and hype which dubious parties have attempted to capitalise on through illegal activities and activities intended to mislead consumers.

All of the above issues are relevant considering the hype surrounding the acai has been driven Dr Schauss who has close ties to the MLM industry itself (namely Monavie) and the ongoing problems associated with the misleading and illegal health claims that Monavie distributors continue to make about the juice.

Anyone who’s unable to come to the conclusion that Dallin Larsen is a fraudster obviously doesn’t know anything about his history concerning Royal Tongan Limu either.

What you did was offfer quotes; you didn’t cite what it was that you object to in those posts. Was it my tone? If that’s your only objection, F.U! I don’t care whether you like my tone or not. It’s the facts that matter. You allegedly didnt know anything about Monavie until today and now you’re sudddenly an expert? We’ve been going deep in our research for a long time and know a lot more about this topic than you do.

The last thing we need here is a nonproductive contributor who has the gall to play the role of behavior-cop. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Make a cogent point at least.

Not Sold said: “It wasn’t the tone, it was the content. Can you PROVE they use medium grade acai? Can you PROVE they put crap in the mixers at the production facilities? Can you PROVE they changed the video because you caught them misleading people?”

The problem is that you didn’t articulate any specific arguments until now. You merely stated that I exaggerated and that you didn’t like my tone, and you essentially attempted to dismiss all of the criticism of Monavie as being the ramblings of seething lunatics. I find this and your backhanded approach in general to be cowardly and offensive. Now that you’ve at least made a token effort to throw out a few weak but more specific examples to support your whining, I can take you on.

1.“Can you PROVE they use medium grade acai?”

Yes, I’d say I did that already quite convincingly or did you fail to even look at and consider the meaning of the numerous shipping waybills and accompanying explanations that I provided. You know — the material that everyone else except you seemed to grasp immediately? And calling it ‘medium grade’ might be overly flattering. The central premise is that the company made very boastful and very specific claims about their acai being top-grade, from exclusive suppliers, organic, and from pesticide-free virgin rainforests. They also claimed that unless acai was immediately freeze-dried, it was essentially useless, and yet we see that the company was buying bulk shipments of citrate-preserved acai puree. If you can’t see the significance of the facts at hand, then don’t come to us expecting a math lesson to teach you why 2+2=4.

2. “Can you PROVE they put crap in the mixers at the production facilities?”

First of all, I CLEARLY did not make this statement in reference to Monavie. I was merely pointing out that MLM supplement companies can’t necessarily be relied upon for quality control, and there are numerous examples to back that up. I used the example of that particular MLM because I happened to be very familiar with the incident – I was forwarded a notarized affidavit from the plant manager who witnessed these abuses taking place. So the short answer is YES, I can prove it. I can forward a PDF copy to Juicescam if it’s necessary and he feels it’s worth expending any effort on you. But you’ll have to kiss my a$$ afterwards.

3. “Can you PROVE they changed the video because you caught them misleading people?”

What exactly are you asking? I already completely 100% proved that they changed the video. I never said that they did it becuase “I caught them misleading people”, if so why toss out such an obvious straw man argument. You can compare the 2 versions and see where the new segments were overlaid. The company (and its agents) had claimed that they (and/or Alex Schauss in some cases) intimately controlled virtually every aspect from berry picking to bottling, when in fact, they didn’t – they merely purchased ingredients from non-exclusive unaffiliated bulk suppliers in Brazil and had it shipped by freighter to the US. And while the misleading claims about the extent of the company’s control over the acai production were circulating, so was the video showing workers processing acai (who, it would appear, have no affiliation with Monavie whatsoever). The company later spliced in new sections depicting Brazilians dressed up in Monavie t-shirts. The obvious inference, based on the explicit claims that were being made about acai production, is that they wanted to make it look as though Monavie runs the show on the ground, even though they don’t. I didn’t state the obvious as a 100% certain fact; I walked through the underlying logic and made a very reasonable conclusion that was represented as nothing more than that. Again, this is a case of explaining why 2+2=4. I hope I broke it down for you enough to understand now.

Now after having impotently shot the only 3 arrows in your quiver, your comments degenerate to the following substance-less ran about DNA, ducks, gospel, hissy fits, expletives, rhetoric, and conspiracy theories:

“Cut the crap. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck isn’t good enough. You bang on about science and FACT. Show me the DNA evidence that PROVES it’s a duck. Don’t be so threatened by someone that doesn’t want to take your word as gospel. Rather than throwing a hissy fit and banging out the expletive insults, how about you back up your rhetoric with some FACTS. You conspiracy theorists make me laugh.”

How quickly you faded into oblivion. That was really weak. Bring your A-game next time meat! The people here who are familiar with my past contributions and research know that I’m batting about .999 so don’t try to nitpick me with me son. Like I said, if you don’t like my tone, tough $hit. But don’t try to posture as though I don’t have my facts straight or that the bulk of my analyses are off base. You can run off to that tasting party now drone.

Unfortunately you still do not have any proof so you resort to getting narky and insulting me again. What you have proven is that MV bought some shitty quality acai. I do take the point that they spout about the quality and that on the surface it seems something is not right, but they may well have a reasonable explanation. Perhaps they are using the 12% non organic stuff for the emv and the “top shelf stuff” for the other products. Perhaps they are more discreet about their shipping of the good stuff so their competitors don’t get their hands on the secret? I really don’t know and I’m getting far too close to blowing an MV horn here, and that is not my purpose. My point is that you do not have enough evidence to prove they are lying. I suspect you would have told someone important if you did. So my point actually stands. You have alot of circumstancial evidence, but no solid proof.

I’m not sure where you get the cowardly thing from. Having an opinion that you let your emotions get ahead of facts is cowardly? I get the offensive bit, but you seem to have shrugged that off and repaid it so I won’t lose too much sleep.

Considering the tone of your posts, I believe you made your comments about the adulteration happy in the knowledge that people would draw a very short bow and make assumptions about MV. I’m assuming your document would be from the friend whose drunk boss added the offending materials on the night your friend was not present? If so I would indeed be impressed and would likely pucker up!

The video thing is ridiculous. I’m sure they did use imagery to embelish their position….most advertising does.

My point is that you gladly dismiss any evidence that the MV product, even the acai itself provides any real benefit. Some of what has been pointed out on this site was actually VERY enlightening and to the point, however you (and by you I mean a number of you) have been very quick to require absolute science and fact from the acai believers. On the other hand you are happy to paint the companies as fraudulent on the basis of 2+2 and ducks and other assumptions.

You’ve not changed anything and my quivers still function quite nicely.

On the subject of cowardly, if you had any real evidence that the public is being hoodwinked, why would you not take it to the authorities? It’s very easy to make a whole bunch of claims and use circumstantial information to point fingers.

As for the tasting party quip, you can make whatever assumptions you like. I have stated my position and I stand by it. I question the validity of their claims, and absolutely reject the claims of some of their distributors, but I do like to see balance and integrity in an argument.

Ah, my little Monavie bitch ‘Not Sold’ sidles back into battle with his trusty bent peashooter. I’m only going to respond to the fleeting portions of your comment in which you made tangible points.

NS said: “Unfortunately you still do not have any proof so you resort to getting narky and insulting me again.”

I have in fact provided ample proof. If I appear to be ‘narky’ with you, perhaps it has something to do with the way you came on here and assaulted not just me but the whole group with moronic UNFOUNDED accusations about exaggerations and working for a competitor, and then you utterly failed to back it up with even a SINGLE valid example or even a hint of exaggeration or conflict of interest.

“What you have proven is that MV bought some shitty quality acai. I do take the point that they spout about the quality and that on the surface it seems something is not right, but they may well have a reasonable explanation.”

OK, like what? Where’s you reasonable explanation. If you have a theory that makes more sense than what we’re talking about, present it. When an acai drink manufacturer buys shitty acai it seems pretty logical to conclude that they use it in the manufacture of their products. So if they don’t use it in their products, what exactly do you think they’re doing with the acai Einstein? Rolling it up and smoking it like you perhaps?

“Perhaps they are using the 12% non organic stuff for the emv and the ‘top shelf stuff’ for the other products. Perhaps they are more discreet about their shipping of the good stuff so their competitors don’t get their hands on the secret?”

You fully deserve to be called an idiot for throwing out that theory. I put cold hard evidence on the table that you blindly ignore in favor of this? E-MV launched long after the dates listed on those waybills, so unless they were keeping that acai on ice for the past couple of years, your theory holds no water. OK, so that now we’ve easily dashed that little red herring. What else can you come up with feeb-tard?

NS said: “Perhaps they are more discreet about their shipping of the good stuff so their competitors don’t get their hands on the secret? I really don’t know.”

More discreet? They were extremely discreet about shipping the bad acai. The only reason it was uncovered was because I managed, with great effort, to find their shipping waybills in a very obscure database. There’s no way to get around declaring the contents of shipments to US customs, so there is no way they could be more discreet unless they lied to customs about the contents of their shipments or subverted customs altogether and imported their ingredients covertly and illegally. You argument is so incredibly transparently weak. You’re sidestepping the evidence on the table that Monavie bought huge amounts of low-grade acai and you’re suggesting, without even a crumb of evidence, that they bought high quality acai elsewhere and managed to keep that a secret? Don’t you see how dishonest that is, especially in light of your accusation that I have exaggerated? You’ve got nothing to back up your utterly desperate theorizing. It’s OK to speculate, even blindly and feebly as you have done, but don’t think you can get away with holding yourself to a lower standard than you expect of us.

What I’m seeing here is that you are trying to ignore/reject significant evidence and very logical conclusions in favor of your own vaporous unsubstantiated BS theories that have absolutely zero evidence. How dare you have the pomposity to make the accusations you made against me when you come to the table with NOTHING! Clown!

NS said: “My point is that you do not have enough evidence to prove they are lying.”

That’s utterly false. I’ve put probably a hundred or more examples on the table to date, along with substantiating evidence, which prove quite conclusively that the company and its distributors have lied and are lying about virtually every aspect of the product and business. This particular aspect -– that they regularly imported low-grade citrate-preserved acai puree from non-exclusive bulk suppliers in Brazil – has been well proven.

NS said: “The video thing is ridiculous. I’m sure they did use imagery to embelish their position….most advertising does.”

That’s not a demonstration that I exaggerated. It’s an admission that I was correct.

NS said: “Considering the tone of your posts, I believe you made your comments about the adulteration happy in the knowledge that people would draw a very short bow and make assumptions about MV.”

I did nothing of the kind. I walked through the logic very transparently. The distributors were touting reports of people who felt an extreme energy burst from drinking Monavie (which may or may not have been true). Remarkably, there were numerous internet reports of people who had experienced that ‘energizing effect’ to the point of having insomnia and heart palpitations. Since fruit juice is not generally known to have such effects, it makes sense to at least consider the possibility that the product is, was, or has been at some time, spiked with something –- caffeine possibly. When I looked into this more deeply I found out that: (a) the FDA has previously blocked the shipment of sidenafil-spiked acai products that originated from 2 companies in Utah (same general locale as Monavie HQ); (b) many of the acai supplement manufacturers were prosecuted by the Feds for defrauding consumers and sued by Oprah — several of them originated from Orem, Utah and environs; (c) the Feds have publically expressed concerns over adulteration of acai products by their manufacturers; (d) Monavie and its agents have repeatedly misrepresented their products; (e) the CEO of Monavie has a tarnished past with respect to illegally flogging a similar juice product until the company was shut down by the Feds; (e) misbranding and adulteration of juice and supplement products is far from unheard of (eg, the evidence I provided included sidenafil-spiked acai supplements, a pomegranate juice manufacturer, an acai drink manufacturer called Universal Taste/Acai Power, and an unnamed MLM supplement manufacturer).

So after having presented all that evidence, I followed it to its logical conclusion, and stated the following, not as fact but as a reasonable, logical possibility.

“The possibility that Monavie has adulterated their products with drugs (e.g. caffeine, etc.) is also a distinct possibility, as this would explain: (a) why some people are so convinced that they noticed differences in energy/sleep patterns, appetite, etc.; and (b) why some people have reported odd adverse reactions to Monavie, such as heart palpitations (see link below).”

NS said: “My point is that you gladly dismiss any evidence that the MV product, even the acai itself provides any real benefit.”

That’s because the science doesn’t show that either provide any real benefit. It’s with the utmost certainty that I can say that they have at the very least exaggerated and overstated the benefits in the absence of any real evidence. That’s your pet peeve right…exaggeration without evidence? This is something that can easily be debated; we can go through the science systematically and see whether the claims are supported or not? Are you prepared or even remotely qualified to do that?

NS said: “Some of what has been pointed out on this site was actually VERY enlightening and to the point, however you (and by you I mean a number of you) have been very quick to require absolute science and fact from the acai believers.”

WTF is ‘absolute science’??? We have never demanded such a thing; I don’t even know what this nonsense term is supposed to mean. What I expect is that any scientific studies cited to support the benefits of acai or Monavie are of a high caliber, are conducted with transparency and without conflict of interest, and support whatever claims are being made by the company about the product. The so-called ‘science behind Monavie’ fails to deliver on any of those points. And despite that, we have still analyzed the numbers that Monavie/AIBMR came up with and they clearly do not support the claims being made about the product’s alleged benefits.

After you took these latest feeble shots at me (presumably the best you could come up with), you again ran out of ammunition very quickly. The rest of your post consisted of a bunch of nonsense without a point and without any facts or evidence. You have failed to back up your accusation that I have exaggerated, and yet I can easily demonstrate that you are a smack-talking posturing fool who doesn’t know his a$$ from his elbow when it comes to the subject matter at hand.

Vogel Says: Lastly, what exactly do you mean when you say that Monavie is 100% juice? As far as I know, the company doesn’t officially claim this,

If you actually ever owned or drank a bottle insted of being so Ignorant! The 100% juice is right on the bottle!

Also the % Solids have nothing to do with the quality. The Final product is fine as proven in the tests done by Schauss who you try to discredit because that’s your tactic. Proven to combat 3 different inflammatories, raise antioxidant levels and show some of the same compounds that were shown in the freeze dried acai test. Also this test was just for Monavie active. Wait until test come out for the Pulse and M-mun.

Like not the sold said your conspiracy theories, opinions that you love to state as fact and your bickering and disrespect is getting old.

BobJ states ” The Final product is fine as proven in the tests done by Schauss who you try to discredit because that’s your tactic. Proven to combat 3 different inflammatories, raise antioxidant levels and show some of the same compounds that were shown in the freeze dried acai test.”

BobJ – WTF are you even on about?! Dr Schauss study confirms that the juice blend used has an ORAC score of 22.81 and phenolics totalling 1.48mg!

The FACT remains that a days serving of Monavie has less than HALF the nutritional content of an ordinary apple!

Are you so stupid to disregard these facts – they are NOT opinions!

BobJ states “Also this test was just for Monavie active. Wait until test come out for the Pulse and M-mun.”

Monavie haven’t done any tests on the products bar the exception of the above (and lets not forget Schauss’ obsurd fruit fly study!) in 5 whole years – they’d have done them by now if they had any intention of doing so, don’t you think?

Does it not occur to even a small minded person such as yourself as to why Monavie parade scientists and researchers – yet they haven’t undertaken a single clinical study to confirm if there are any health benefits to being “on the juice”.

Come on now!