Are Advocare Products Safe?

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I thought it would be a good idea to take a closer look at Advocare. The company claims that their products are banned substance free and that each product is manufactured in a safe and reliable manner.  But are their products really guaranteed to be safe? Does anyone remember when there was a mass outbreak of salmonella in the United States? It was a serious and deadly situation between 2008-2009 that lead to 9 deaths and approximately 11,000-20,000 illnesses. There were approximately 4000 products recalled. Knowing that Advocare International goes to such great lengths to ensure the safety and efficacy of their products they could not have been one of the companies recalling products, could they?


 I know what you are thinking, or you should be thinking. How can a company that ensures their products will always be banned substance free, and uses safe manufacturing practices be part of a recall? According to Advocare Internationals website they indicate the following:
 “Manufacturing is done in GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) compliant facilities, with exemplary quality control and quality assurance programs”. 


The truth is, they did have a voluntary recall, and it was the Advocare Meal Replacement Shake Chocolate, product code T1251, and Berry, product code T2191. You will notice the letter sent by Advocare to all of their distributors downplays the seriousness of the outbreak by making the recall voluntary (PDF). Of course there should have been another recall as the Texas State Health Services had directed a recall of products containing peanuts that were manufactured at the Peanut Corporation of America. It appears the letter sent by Advocare indicated they put a hold on ordering and did not issue an actual recall (PDF). Now, I could be wrong, and if you find information that indicates otherwise, I will be more than happy to evaluate it and update this information at any time. I assure you that the documents I provide are viable. So even if there was a slight error, there probably would not be much to modify, and would only encourage me to add the rest of my documents, as I could give you plenty more information, but I want to get to my point.


 Advocare, through their advertisement, claim to be perfect. Alright, they do not say that, but it is implied. If you are a professional athlete using this product you must feel the same way. Why else would you put your career on the line? Unfortunately, when a company advertises their product in such a way it leads a reasonable person to believe they will not be at risk of ingesting banned substances, they are being deceptive. That might be my opinion but please allow me to explain.

Who makes Advocare products? Where do the ingredients come from? What country? Do any of you distributors know? If you do please feel free to share that information with me and the rest of the readers. Please do not give me Advocares factory name or warehouse in Texas. I want to know where each ingredient used to make the products come from. Who makes the products or is associated with making the products? Does every single batch get tested by informed choice? Does Advocare ensure that all the manufacturers associated with Advocare products are using safe manufacturing practices? Well, I am going to say no, they do not to the last question.


If they did, why didn’t Advocare catch the nasty disgusting peanut butter plant located in Texas? I mean that plant was absolutely disgusting. We are talking animal fecal matter getting into the peanut butter among other things. Then the peanut butter gets shipped to different areas to make other products, which also included Advocare products. If you do not believe me, go ahead and read the reports I provided. I could provide you with the actual inspection but I do not believe it is necessary.

Am I to presume that Advocare only ensures that their own facility is governed by good manufacturing practices? Unless we know who makes all the Advocare products and where the material is coming from, you cannot ensure the products will be free of banned substances. Does informed choice test all Advocare products prior to hitting the market? I have already covered informed choice in my very first article, but if you go to the Informed Choice website you will learn that once a company becomes a member of Informed Choice, they only have to have an inspection two times a year.

If anyone has any doubt just ask Jessica Hardy. Advocare has formally complaining about her suspension being reduced because she proved that the product tested positive. Advocare released a letter refuting the findings, because the companies two so called third party testing facilities did not find any signs of the drug. Maybe that is because there were no more traces of the band substance left in the product. It was only a trace. Or, you are just being your usual deceptive self. Sorry, that was just an opinion. I guess I could tell you about the double amount of lead you would be obtain from the Advocare Products, but I will save that for a rainy day, or a snowy one.

Listen, I am not saying that Advocare is not doing everything they can to ensure the products are banned substance free, and safe for human consumption. Well, to a certain degree. Whether or not taking extremely high doses of vitamins and minerals is still questionable in my book. But that is a choice you have to make.

The reason I told you about the tainted peanut butter and how it affected Advocare is simple. If you are an athlete, you really should ask yourself whether or not any supplement is worth putting your hard work on the line for. Advocare does have other people making their products, and the ingredients come from all over the word. Where? I am working on that and should be ready to tell you soon. The possibility of cross contamination is really good. I have a question for athletes. Should you put your Olympic dreams or Super Bowl title on the line for a product that has never been scientifically proven by anyone to enhance performance? I know the paid doctors from Advocare are ready to show their pathetic results, you can read that in my article “Advocare Review”. Their research literally falls in the category of biased and inconclusive. Other than that, there is literally no research to support their claims. I would show you the research but they do not make it easily obtainable. This is what I am asking of Advocare and the distributors.
Give me the names of all the places that provide Advocare with ingredients and who other than Advocare, manufacturers’ products for Advocare. With that, where are these manufacturers located and is Advocare regulating them like they do their own facilities.

What  happens when a multilevel company has to do a recall? How does that affect your monthly commission, and ability to meet certain required criteria? If you have the answer to these questions please share that information with me and the other readers.

Please give me your feedback, and share your Advocare story with me.

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