Mecca has pulled a Naked Sundays sunscreen off the shelves in New Zealand after controversial test results released in Australia.

Naked Sundays SPF50+ Collagen Glow Mineral Sunscreen was unavailable for purchase this week, the company has confirmed.

The sunscreen has also been removed from sale in Australia in what Naked Sundays describes as a “temporary measure”.

The move comes just days after cosmetics brand Ultra Violette urgently recalled its mineral sunscreen after it failed a series of tests.

On its website, Naked Sundays said: “For the past few months we have taken proactive action behind the scenes, by doing our own due diligence, additional SPF testing across multiple independent labs, meeting with government bodies, vetting ingredients and collecting data, which is still ongoing, while we await updates from the TGA [Therapeutic Goods Administration]”.

“We are pleased to report that preliminary SPF results from a new independent lab for our Collagen Mineral produced by our US manufacturer, has returned preliminary results to support the label claim of SPF50,” the company added.

The cosmetics company now awaits “new, complete independent SPF results, and subsequent guidance from the TGA on their investigation into SPF testing”.

Sunscreen industry rocked by controversy

A Choice report in June claimed that a range of popular sunscreens for sale in Australia fall short of the protection they advertise.

At the time, Choice’ said it had tested 20 popular SPF50 and SPF50+ sunscreens and found 16 fell short of the protection they advertised.

In the tests, Ultra Violette’s Australian Sunscreen’s lean screen 50+ mattifying zinc sunscreen returned a result of just SPF4.

At the time, Ultra Violette’s founders Bec Jefferd and Ava Matthews defended their product but, since conducting their own testing, have said they are “deeply sorry” and removed the product from the market last week, after a “pattern of inconsistency in testing”.

In June, the TGA, Australia’s medicines watchdog, said it would look into Choice’s report and take “regulatory action as required”.

Last week, the Australian government watchdog announced it is reviewing SPF testing requirements.

”The TGA is exploring alternative test methods that may be more reliable, including in vitro test methods,“ it said.

Kiwi customers eligible for refunds

Mecca told the Herald it has removedd Naked Sundays’ SPF50+ Collagen Glow 100% Mineral Perfecting Priming Lotion (20ml, 50ml, 80ml) from sale, effective immediately.

“The product is being removed from our website, and our team is in the process of removing it from all Mecca stores while the brand awaits independent retesting of one of its manufacturing facilities to determine whether the product performs as advertised,” a company spokesperson said.

According to Mecca, the companies removed the product from shelves despite “no requirement to officially” recall it.

“We believe removing it from sale is the right thing to do until the retesting is complete.”

The recall does not affect other Naked Sundays products available in New Zealand.

“If you’ve purchased this product through Mecca, you are entitled to a full refund in line with our standard processes,” the spokesperson added.

Customers angry at ‘stealth’ removal of products

Customers are sharing concerns that products being removed from shelves in Australia are still being sold overseas, including in the UK.

Naked Sundays’ founder Samantha Brett told news.com.au the decision to pause sales of the product is a way of “advocating for greater testing standards for Aussie consumers”.

“While we were not implicated in the Choice article, for months behind the scenes we’ve been taking proactive measures and doing all our due diligence, additional independent testing and advocating for more consistency and regulatory guidance, after the TGA acknowledged inconsistencies in testing standards,” she added.

The confirmation comes after customers began noticing the product was no longer for sale in Mecca stores. Soon after, screenshots started circulating showing the company confirming they had stopped stocking it.

Customers shared DMs from Mecca confirming the news, despite no official public post about it. Photo / Reddit

Across social media platforms like Instagram and Reddit, customers have expressed concern over the results of the tests and urging people who regularly used the sunscreen products that failed to meet the standards to get their skin checked.

“Naked Sundays – this is so messed up that they’re just quietly doing this and not proactively alerting their customers," one person wrote on Reddit.