Publisher Penguin pulls Belle Gibson cook book The Whole Pantry

Belle Gibson, creator of the app The Whole Pantry Photo: Jeffrey Glorfeld

Publishing giant Penguin will pull Belle Gibson's debut cook book after the author failed to defend accusations of falsely claiming to have cancer and explain why she withheld charitable donations.

But Penguin refuses to say when it first became concerned about the accuracy of the "inspirational" story used to promote the Melbourne businesswoman's book and app.

Fairfax Media has been told that Ms Gibson was called into Penguin's offices to go over her cancer story, detailed in the extensive preface to The Whole Pantry,just weeks before its release last October.

Sources said Ms Gibson described the meeting - in which she was put in front of a video camera and repeatedly asked about her background and medical condition - as an "interrogation".

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The publisher has previously admitted never fact checking Ms Gibson's story, which claims healthy living and natural therapies helped her treat multiple terminal cancers.

Ms Gibson has so far offered no evidence to support her claims of surviving cancers after rejecting conventional treatment.Former friends and leading medical experts have cast strong doubt over her story and purported diagnoses.

After further questions from Fairfax Media on Monday, Penguin released a statement saying it had not received a "sufficient explanation" from Ms Gibson about her health claims and potentially illegal fundraising activities.

Penguin said the book would no longer be supplied and sold in Australia.

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Publisher Penguin pulls Belle Gibson cook book The Whole Pantry