Skincare brand Naked Sundays has pulled one of its sunscreen products from the Australian market, including from cosmetics giant MECCA, amid industry-wide questions about whether sunscreen products are meeting their sun protection claims.

The announcement follows the decision by fellow Australian brand Ultra Violette last week that it was removing one of its products from shelves after testing revealed it could not guarantee its SPF50+ label claim.

The now-removed Naked Sundays product, SPF50+ Collagen Glow Mineral Sunscreen, was launched in 2021 and was available in MECCA cosmetics stores across the country as well as on the Naked Sundays website.


The ABC had seen messages sent by MECCA over the weekend informing customers that, as a precaution, it was "working to remove this product from across our full store network and online as quickly as possible".


In a statement, Naked Sundays said it had "paused" sales on its Collagen Glow Mineral Sunscreen in Australia pending further testing of the product.

The brand said the US version of the product had already been retested and met the advertised SPF50 label claim.

The statement said they intended to sell that version "in the coming days".

This new version will have a lower SPF rating than the previous product which was withdrawn from the Australian market.

"Till then we've paused the mineral [sunscreen] from sale in Australia out of precaution, while we await new, complete independent SPF results," it said.

It noted that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) was undertaking an investigation into SPF testing, and it was awaiting further guidance from the regulator.

Naked Sundays said the "pause" only related to this one product made by an Australian manufacturer.

The ABC has contacted Naked Sundays to ask who the manufacturer of its "paused" product was.

In a statement, Mecca said the decision to remove the product from its stores was made together with Naked Sundays.

It said: "Although there is currently no requirement to officially recall the product, we believe removing it from sale is the right thing to do until the retesting is complete."

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The recall of another Australian sunscreen product last Friday by Ultra Violette came after testing by consumer group Choice earlier this year found that 16 out of 20 popular sunscreens did not meet their SPF label claims.

The worst-performing product was Ultra Violette's Lean Screen SPF Mattifying Zinc Skinscreen, which came back with an SPF of 4.

The brand announced on Friday it would recall the Australian sunscreen and the US version Velvet Screen after new testing revealed it could not guarantee the SPF50+ on the label.


The ABC confirmed that Wild Child was the manufacturer of the Ultra Violette product.

ABC asked Wild Child if it also manufactured the Naked Sundays sunscreen product.

Tom Currow, CEO of Wild Child, told the ABC in an email: "We have confidentiality arrangements in place with the brands we manufacture product for, and we are therefore not in a position to provide any comments on customer branded products."

Choice calls on TGA and sunscreen brands to act​

In a statement to the ABC, consumer group Choice said: "Naked Sundays' decision to temporarily pause the sale of their Collagen Glow Mineral sunscreen comes mere days after Ultra Violette announced the removal of Lean Screen from shelves."

"It is clear there is a serious issue in the Australian sunscreen industry that urgently needs to be addressed.

"Consumers will be questioning whether other sunscreen products still on shelves are also safe to use — particularly as we begin to enter the warmer months of the year."

Choice said the TGA needed to urgently look into other sunscreens using similar formulations as part of their investigation.

A TGA spokesperson said: "The TGA is currently investigating this matter, and through its risk-based approach to regulation of therapeutic goods, will take regulatory action as appropriate."

The spokesperson reiterated that using sunscreen was an important measure to prevent the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, in addition to seeking shade, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, wearing protective clothing and using sunglasses.

Choice called on other sunscreen brands that had reason to believe their products might also be affected, to assess the risks of their products not providing the claimed SPF protection, and if necessary, remove their products from sale.

Written by Rachel Carbonell, Ninah Kopel, and Echo Hui, ABC News.