Our Quality Control and Drug-screening Programme

Maximuscle is the UK's leading sports nutrition company, totally committed to helping dedicated sports people and gym users exceed their personal performance goals. We have the most comprehensive range of products to help you increase your sporting performance and reach your physique goals.

Integrity is key to our growing success - our products work and are used by some of the top sports clubs, elite athletes and gym users in the UK. We ensure that all of our products conform to the highest standards. All our products are made in accordance with strict Quality Control procedures to ensure they are consistent, safe and effective. They are also tested by an independent laboratory to ensure what is on the label is in the bottle.

Maximuscle has always been committed to using specialist manufacturers and suppliers of raw ingredients in Europe, Australia and the United States, who produce high quality food products for some of the largest food brands in the world. A good example is our unique Biomax whey protein, an excellent source of protein in many of our products. Whey starts its life as milk or cheese and goes through a number of specialised processes to refine it into the highest, most biologically active protein for people looking to improve their sporting performance or enhance lean muscle mass and strength. There are many types of whey and the whey found in our products are carefully formulated with our customers' goals in mind. Naturally you would not consider drug screening the milk you have on your cereal in the morning for steroids or stimulants.

There is a lot of concern about drugs in sport, positive drug tests for competing athletes, drug cheats and whose 'fault' it is. So, to help alleviate any concerns about Maximuscle products we have developed and pioneered the world's first ISO17025 certified and UKAS approved sports nutrition testing programme with a UK accredited laboratory. For your peace of mind we test each and every batch (* see bottom of page for exceptions) for the following problematic banned substances (banned for competing athletes): -

GCMS - At or above 10ng/g

1. 4-estrene-3ß, 17ß-diol (19nor-4-androstene-3ß, 17ß-diol)
2. 4-androstene-3ß, 17ß-diol
3. 5a-androstane-3ß, 17ß-diol
4. 5(6)-androstene-3ß, 17ß-diol
5. 5(10)-estrene-3ß 17ß-diol
6. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)
7. 5a-androstane-3, 17-dione
8. 5(10)-estrene-3, 17-dione (19-nor-5(10)-androstene-3, 17-dione) and/or 4-estrene-3, 17-dione (19-nor-4-androstene-3, 17-dione) and/or 5(6)-estrene-3, 17dione (19-nor-5(6)-androstene-3,17-dione)
9. Nandrolone (19-nor-4-androstene-17ß-hydroxy-3-one)
10. 1,4-androstene-3,17dione
11. 5(6)-androstene-3, 17-dione and/or 4-androstene-3, 17-dione
12. Testosterone
    LCMS - At or above 10ng/g
13. Gestrinone
14. Stanozolol
15. Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG)
    At or above 100ng/g
16. MDMA (Ecstasy)
17. Salbutamol
18. Strychnine
19. Clenbuterol
20. Amphetamine
21. Cathine (Norpseudoephedrine)
22. Cocaine
23. Ephedrine
24. Methylephedrine
25. Terbutaline

Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) is a good example of the issues we face in supplying sports nutrition products for drug tested sports people. THG is a designer steroid, which means that someone has gone into a laboratory to develop a steroid, which at the time could not be detected by the methods available. Athletes could then use this designer steroid without fear of being caught, knowing that they had an unfair competitive advantage, which goes against the whole ethos of testing in the first place. Fortunately a concerned coach sent a sample to the labs and we are now able to start testing athletes for this steroid and stop these drug cheats in their tracks, and at the same time stop them from pointing the finger at sports nutrition.

So is it possible for THG to find its way into your food or sports nutrition products? - absolutely not, in the same way that cocaine could not, unless someone intentionally put it in there, which is also very unlikely. However, we have included these items in our drug screening programme as athletes have tested positive for them in the past and to take positive and pro-active steps for all tested athletes. It is our goal to ensure all athletes can compete on a fair playing field, whilst having the option and benefit to use safe and effective sports nutrition products.

It is important to note, the majority of our products are classified as foods, we use the same ingredients as found in many food products and share the same raw ingredient suppliers and specialist manufacturers. We do not test our products because they are 'sports nutrition' products, we test them because elite athletes choose to use them. This is Maximuscle's commitment to people whose careers depends on the safety of knowing what they are ingesting.

Maximuscle go far beyond all legal requirements for food and pharmaceuticals, by testing each and every batch for the lowest levels of contamination, that modern testing machines can detect. It is for this reason that Maximuscle has become a respected brand within elite sport today, with more top rugby and football clubs and elite athletes choosing to use the Maximuscle brand. To name but a few we supply: