Health Canada is investigating the possibility that phony toothpaste has made its way into Southern Ontario.
Meanwhile, tubes of similar toothpaste have been pulled off shelves of dollar stores in Halifax and Saint John after some were reportedly sold last week.
The Health Canada probe comes after a Cambridge, Ont. man bought a tube of what looks like Colgate brand toothpaste, which was labelled as manufactured by Colgate-Palmolive (PTY) Ltd. in South Africa.
The 100-milliltre tube purchased by Steve Janke, 40, at a Guelph dollar store was missing the French translation found on the labels of most Canadian products. The labelling was also full of spelling errors.
The phony toothpaste could be the same product at the centre of a major recall in the United States.
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Testing in the U.S. on some counterfeit toothpaste detected the chemical diethylene glycol (DEG), a cheap glycerin substitute found in antifreeze and brake fluid.
The FDA said the chemical poses "a low health risk" but a Staten Island newspaper in New York reported two people were taken to hospital for nausea and abdominal pain after using the phony toothpaste.
Health Canada spokesperson Paul Duschene said consumers should look for an eight-digit identification, or DIN number, in order to ensure they're buying products that have been assessed by the agency for their safety.
Other numbers to look for are NPN numbers for natural products, and DIN-HM numbers for homeopathic products.
Duchesne said authorities received the toothpaste on Tuesday and are testing it in their labs, adding that they'll examine the labelling and try to determine how it arrived at the dollar stores.
The FDA began testing for the chemical after reports that tainted Chinese shipments surfaced in Australia, the Dominican Republic and Panama.
The same chemical has led to the recall of several brands of toothpaste imported from China in recent weeks.
Colgate-Palmolive has not commented on the toothpaste found in Canada but has told American authorities it does not import toothpaste from South Africa.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Everything for a Dollar retail chain said he's ordered all his stores to remove the toothpaste from their shelves.
Wahid Choksi told CTV he agreed to sell the product because a sample said "Made in Canada" -- not South Africa.
"Whether it's dangerous, whether it is safe to use, nobody has mentioned it to me. Health Canada hasn't mentioned that to me either," said Choksi.
Nahid Ababaf, manager of the Everything for a Dollar store in Halifax, told CTV Atlantic the toothpaste was indeed removed last Thursday after being on the shelves for about seven hours. Five boxes had been sold in that period, but she said she has yet to hear back from any of those customers.
At the chain's Saint John, N.B. outlet, manager Charlene Boyle said the suspect toothpaste was on the shelf for half a day -- enough time for customers to purchase eight or nine boxes.
Choksi said he has informed his supplier, Toronto-based FHT Enterprises Inc, about the incident. FHT's Athar Tayyabi told the Globe and Mail the company would be disposing of the remaining inventory.
