The husband-and-wife owners of a Walnut-based nutritional supplement company pleaded guilty today to federal charges stemming from the illegal importation of honey bee royal jelly from China under deceptive labels.
Lynn Leung and Denian Fu each entered pleas before U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer to a felony count of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, which carries a sentence of up to three years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Fischer set sentencing for Feb. 1.
According to an indictment filed in October 2013, the couple’s Nu-Health Products Company falsified documents and labels in order to import and sell honey bee royal jelly, honey bee propolis and lamb placenta from China, and labeled the products in shipping documents and sales invoices as “aloe vera,” “ginko biloba” and “multi-vitamins.”
Royal jelly — a milky-white secretion produced by the glands of worker honey bees to nurture queen bees — has been studied for a variety of medicinal uses, including asthma, hay fever, liver disease and pancreatitis.
The indictment also alleged that the defendants illegally imported seal oil capsules from China in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The capsules are sold as nutritional supplements.
