Bloomberg hired a private laboratory to test samples of store-brand aloe gel purchased at national retailers Wal-Mart, Target and CVS.
It seems that while all of the brands tested listed Aloe barbadensis leaf juice, also called aloe vera, as the first ingredient or second ingredient after water, there was no indication that the prime ingredient was present.
Three of the chemical markers that indicate the presence of aloe vera were missing, according to Bloomberg’s report.
The three chemical markers that would indicate the presence of aloe vera — acemannan, malic acid and glucose — were absent in the tests for Wal-Mart, Targe, and CVS conducted by the independent laboratory hired by Bloomberg. Instead, these three stores were selling aloe gels that contained maltodextrin, a sugar often used to imitate aloe.
A total of four gels were tested by Bloomberg, including Wal-Mart’s “Equate Aloe After Sun Gel,” Target’s “UP & Up Aloe Vera Gel,” CVS “Aftersun Aloe Vera Moisturizing Gel and Walgreens “Alcohol-Free Aloe Vera Body Gel.” Walgreens’ aloe gel contained one marker, malic acid, but not the other two, meaning the presence of aloe vera cannot be ruled out.
Target declined to comment on the test results, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. said their suppliers have confirmed to them their products were authentic. All four companies have over 23,000 outlets between them.
The laboratory that did the testing has requested they remain anonymous to preserve their business relationships. The lab used a process called nuclear magnetic resonance to test for the chemicals they needed to find. They found additives, like maltodextrin, as well as other ingredients, like triethanolamine, an emulsifier. But lactic acid, a component that would indicate degraded aloe vera, was absent from all the samples.
Interestingly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not strictly regulate aloe vera, leaving it up to suppliers, to be honest in what they say the products contain. And aloe vera products are a very big business in the U.S., with the market growing last year by 11 percent, up to $146 million.
Fruit of the Earth, a Fort Worth, Texas-based aloe company formed in 1980, said its supplier was the Ormond Beach, Florida-based Concentrated Aloe Corp. They said they supply organically-grown aloe that’s farmed and processed in Guatemala.
“We’ve been in the business a long time and we know where the raw ingredients come from,” John Dondrea, Fruit of the Earth’s general counsel, said in a telephone interview. “We stand behind our products.”
Regardless of Bloomberg’s findings, a number of law firms, including Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Barbat, Mansour & Suciu PLLC have already filed class action lawsuits against the four companies after separate laboratory tests failed to find the missing aloe vera in the store brand products.
