Ryan Braun's successful appeal: MLB advises players to stick to supplements certified by Ann Arbor area firm

Braun, who reportedly became the first player to get a positive drug test overturned on Thursday, apparently benefited when an official who collected Braun's urine sample "took it home, put it in a refrigerator and sent it out the next day," breaking strict protocol, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday.

MLB contracts with Ann Arbor Township-based NSF International to develop a list of supplements that won't set off alarms at drug testing laboratories.

"These are the only substances that are approved and cannot result in a positive drug test," the Journal Sentinel reported in December. "Each spring, players are reminded to make sure anything they consume is NSF approved."

But Braun told USA Today that he never violated league rules.

"I did not do this,'' Braun said. "If I had done this intentionally, or unintentionally,'' Braun said, "I'd be the first one to stand up and say I did it. …I truly believe in my heart, and I would bet my life, that this substance never entered my body at any point.''

MLB, however, is "still convinced that the sample tested came from Braun, and that the positive test result was correct," ESPN reported.

NSF, which has more than $140 million in annual revenue and more than 400 employees at its headquarters on Dixboro Road, declined to comment on Braun's successful appeal.

"We don’t have any knowledge of the case or the circumstances so it would be inappropriate for us to comment," NSF spokeswoman Greta Houlahan told AnnArbor.com in an email.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.