[Edaily Reporter YU JIN-HEE ] It has been confirmed that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has initiated administrative sanctions and legal proceedings against Company M, a multi-level marketing firm, for false and exaggerated advertising regarding its health functional food product “Brain Plus.” The company is accused of plagiarizing and misrepresenting the efficacy and research findings of ingredients developed by other companies. Health authorities have taken strong action against the company for misleading consumers by promoting “Cera-Q,” a secondary ingredient in general foods that has not been recognized as having any functional benefits and for which it is legally impossible to make efficacy claims.

Removing the ingredient name from another company’s clinical graph and altering it to “Silk”… a clear case of impersonation and plagiarism

According to health authorities and industry sources on the 25th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) recently uncovered unfair advertising practices by Company M’s “Brain Plus” product and has initiated sanctions. The product had been promoted using phrases such as “memory enhancement proven through animal and human trials” and “nerve cell regeneration,” highlighting “Cera-Q” as a secondary ingredient.

However, this newspaper’s investigation revealed that the graph titled “CeraQ’s Memory-Enhancing Functionality (Human Trials),” which appeared in an official YouTube product presentation by Company M’s sales team, was created by unauthorized manipulation of research data from another company’s ingredient—an ingredient that had formally obtained individual approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. They erased the unique ingredient name specified in the original graph or replaced it with the generic term “silk,” making it appear as if the results were from human trials of CeraQ itself. The ingredient that was misappropriated was confirmed to be a legitimate ingredient that had received official approval from health authorities in South Korea, the United States, and Canada, and was completely unrelated to this controversy.

Furthermore, the lecture video in question featured false statements such as “If dementia is suspected, even hospitals will prescribe it,” along with the explicit mention of specific disease names such as “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)” and “Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD).” The company’s official social media accounts also marketed Seracue as a “key ingredient that activates brain function.” This constitutes a comprehensive violation of current laws and regulations, encompassing types of unfair advertising strictly prohibited, such as claiming disease prevention or treatment efficacy, causing confusion by being mistaken for a pharmaceutical product, false or exaggerated advertising, and consumer deception.

There are also claims that SeraQ is an ingredient that lacks even the scientific basis to justify such exaggerations. The key paper previously cited as evidence of its efficacy was officially retracted from an international academic journal due to “data manipulation and fabrication”; consequently, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s recognition of its functional properties was revoked, and it is now legally nothing more than an “ordinary food” ingredient with no proven efficacy. Even the remaining in-house papers face serious allegations that they contain results that are physically impossible to obtain using the stated test methods.

Even when the raw material is the same, protein hydrolysates have completely different peptide compositions depending on the digestive enzymes and processing conditions (temperature, time, pH, etc.). This is why the MFDS’s “Individual Recognition System” grants exclusive rights only to a specific company’s specific manufacturing process. Company M and its raw material supplier, BrainOn, will find it difficult to avoid criticism that they undermined the safeguards of this system and pigged-back on the certified achievements of other companies.

BrainOn’s Key Executives’ Past Records Also Under Scrutiny… Pointed Out During Parliamentary Audit

The past records of BrainOn and its key executives have also come under scrutiny. A children’s height-enhancement product previously developed by Kang Yong-gu, CEO of BrainOn, was caught engaging in false advertising; those involved were referred to the prosecution, and the entire product line was recalled. At the time, the use of an inedible ingredient (Eupatorium fortunei) led to additional recalls and the retraction of related research papers. Unfair advertising related to “Sera-Q” was also pointed out four times during the National Assembly’s parliamentary audit, with the number of violations alone reaching 98. Overseas, the company has rebranded the product as “Memo-Q” and continues to fuel controversy by running ads claiming it has “been recognized by Korean regulatory authorities.”

The judiciary’s ruling is already firm. In the past, BrainOn was ordered to suspend operations—a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court—on charges of misleading consumers into believing its product contained the same individually approved ingredients as those used by other companies. CEO Kang was also found guilty and sentenced to a fine. The criminal judgment at the time explicitly stated that the motive for the offense was “an intent to piggyback on another company’s research achievements” and that “the nature of the crime is serious.” The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s recent administrative sanctions and judicial measures are interpreted as steps to put an end to these repeated illegal acts.

Health authorities and experts are urging consumers to exercise extreme caution. Since SeraQ is merely a general auxiliary ingredient that cannot be labeled as having functional benefits, if you encounter advertisements claiming to improve brain function or memory, you should directly cross-check and verify the product’s certified “functional ingredients” through the Food Safety Korea website. Consumers who purchased the product after being deceived by false advertising can file a complaint or report the issue through the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center or the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s hotline for reporting defective food products (1399).

An industry official advised, “Companies that have been manufacturing and selling finished products using SeraQ as an ingredient must also thoroughly re-verify the authenticity of their suppliers’ data,” adding, “Given that this legal action follows the retraction of the fabricated research paper, referral to the prosecution, and a guilty verdict by the Supreme Court, they must immediately cease false advertising and sales—if only to protect consumers and avoid further legal liability.”

However, CEO Kang stated, “We are currently preparing a lawsuit regarding this matter,” adding, “We will contest the facts in court.”