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COLGATE WARNS ON COUNTERFEIT TOOTHPASTE By Jonathan Birchallin New York
Friday, June 15, 2007
Colgate Palmolive, the US consumer products company, was yesterday drawn indirectly into a mounting debate over the safety of food and consumer products imported from China, after it warned that counterfeit versions of its toothpaste being sold in the US contained a poisonous chemical.
The company said there were indications that small tubes of counterfeit toothpaste found in some “dollar stores” in the northeast US may contain diethylene glycol, a substance blamed last year for scores of deaths from contaminated Chinese-made cough medicine in several Central American countries.
Colgate said the counterfeit toothpaste was labelled “manufactured in South Africa”. However, the packaging contained misspellings including ”SOUTH AFRLCA” and ”South African Dental Assoxiation”. The warning follows the FDA's decision earlier this month to warn consumers to avoid Chinese-made toothpaste, after traces of the chemical were found in a seized shipment and in products sold at two stores.
Colgate shares fell just over 1 per cent to $66.71 in early afternoon trading.
The concerns over toothpaste followed a massive recall of US pet food in March and April after traces of the poison melamine where found in wheat gluten traced to a Chinese producer. The recall involved an estimated 60m cans and packages of cat and dog food sold by numerous leading US brands. It cost Menu Foods, the Canadian supplier involved, $42m.
The food safety issue is further exacerbating the already fraught trade relationship between the US and China. The Chinese government responded to the FDA's toothpaste warning by calling it ”unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory”.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine admitted last week that diethylene glycol was present in some Chinese toothpaste, but said that it was within safety limits accepted by the European Union.
