Claiming to have a product which will provide weight loss of 25 pounds in a month, State College-based Ananas Inc. has recently come under fire from Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr.

Preate received complaints from disgruntled customers and traced the mailing address for the product -- Ananas bromeline -- to State College, said Jack Lewis, Preate's assistant press secretary.

Bromeline, an enzyme found in tropical fruits, will digest 900 times its own weight in fat, according to promotional materials, Lewis said. The product promises it will force the body to lose weight, even if the user does not lower his or her food intake.

But Preate claimed that these reports are "fraudulent, false or misleading," and he has taken Ananas Inc. to court, Lewis said.

One local nutritionist is skeptical of the effectiveness of such a product.

"There is no evidence that there is an enzyme or protein . . . we can take that would be associated with that kind of weight loss," said John Beard, nutrition professor.

It is "medically irresponsible" to sell anything of this sort without clinical supervision, he said.

Andrew Gordon, Ananas Inc.'s attorney in the dispute, refused to comment on the incident.

The suit alleges that production began when Margareta Lebovits contacted Clifford Kerstetter, the owner of several pharmaceutical companies in Mifflin County. Together, they produced and packaged the enzyme and shipped it from Vermont to consumers, Lewis said. Lebovits is named as a defendant in the case, but Kerstetter is not.

Late last year, Ananas Inc. started shipping the enzyme directly out of Mifflin County, the suit claims. When Preate received complaints about the product, he enjoined the courts to stop mail to the company's drop-off address in State College, said Senior Deputy General Attorney E. Barry Creany, attorney-in-charge of the Bureau of Consumer Protection's Ebensburg office.

After filing a special injunction on Jan. 24, the case was followed up with a preliminary injunction on Jan. 27, Creany said. He said Ananas Inc. conceded to the preliminary injunction because they were unprepared at the time to fight the claims, he said.

Ananas Inc. and Lebovits are prohibited from accessing any accounts except for the purpose of refunding customers, according to the injunction.

The court order also prohibits Ananas Inc. from furthering the business in Pennsylvania for now, Creany said.