Counterfeit Colgate Toothpaste: Ethylene Glycol and "Suspected Harmful Bacteria"

It's no longer new news, but remains useful. The Federal Drug Administration published a warning from Colgate-Palmolive earlier in the summer:

" counterfeit toothpaste falsely packaged as "Colgate" has been found in several dollar-type discount stores in four states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. There are indications that this product does not contain fluoride and may contain Diethylene Glycol. The Company stated that it does not use, nor has ever used, Diethylene Glycol as an ingredient in Colgate toothpaste anywhere in the world.

The counterfeit toothpaste can be easily recognized because it is labelled as "Manufactured in South Africa." Colgate does not import toothpaste into the United States from South Africa. In addition, the counterfeit packages examined so far have several misspellings including: "isclinically" "SOUTH AFRLCA" "South African Dental Assoxiation".

Counterfeit toothpaste is not manufactured or distributed by Colgate and has no connection with the Company whatsoever. Colgate is working closely with the US FDA to help to identify those responsible for the counterfeit product.

Dare I say that just because the box said it was manufactured in South Africa, doesn't mean that it was. It also claims to be Colgate.

Colgate-Palmolive added this warning at the end of June:

"Colgate Palmolive is continuing to remove counterfeit toothpaste from small discount variety retailers in the United States and Canada, in cooperation with government health and law enforcement authorities. Additional developments include a report by Canadian health authorities as well as Colgate’s own investigation that has found suspected harmful bacteria in some samples of counterfeit toothpaste. These counterfeit products were picked up in small discount variety retailers in Canada and the United States.

The counterfeit Colgate was found not only in the United States and Canada, but also in Africa (Mozamibique). Countries stopping deliveries of the toothpaste at its borders were found: "A review of FDA import refusal records show that over the last year the agency has stopped shipments of Colgate toothpaste from eight countries: Australia, China, Britain, Indonesia, India, Mexico, the Philippines and South Africa."

The Washington Post identified the distributor of the counterfeit Colgate as "MS USA Trading, of Bergen County, NJ."