Angry in the Great White North

The problem with fake Colgate toothpaste is still out there. While in Canada and the United States, authorities seem to have the problem under control, in Africa, thousands of boxes are being pulled off the shelves.

And with more labelling errors, but these are doozies. Toothpaste expiry dates that are, well, too good to be true:

The case of the counterfeit Colgate toothpaste spread to Mozambique this weekend after authorities there seized thousands of tubes over fears they may contain a potentially deadly chemical.

The health ministry banned all sales of the counterfeit "Colgate Maximum Cavity Protection" toothpaste and ordered storekeepers to remove it from their shelves, state radio said Sunday.

Tubes found in the capital Maputo claimed to be manufactured in South Africa, but were betrayed by the expiry dates on the packages, such as July 32, 2008, and June 34, 2009. Similar counterfeit products found in Canada and the United States included misspellings such as "South Afrlca," and "South African Dental Assoxiation."

The brand I found had yet different misspellings. Colgate was spelled "Coigate", and other "l" and "i" replacements occurred.

But really. June 34th? Do you get the feeling these counterfeiters have stopped even trying?

As of yet, no one knows where the toothpaste came from:

Although the origin of the toothpaste is unknown, Chinese-made toothpaste has been banned by numerous countries in North and South America and Asia for containing DEG.

Last month, China banned the use of the toxic chemical in toothpaste, apparently motivated by international scrutiny regarding the safety of imported Chinese products.

Check the expiry date, folks.

And I checked -- the Chinese calendar doesn't have 34-day months. As far as I can tell, no calendar system has such a thing, since months seem to be universally tied to lunar cycles.

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