Health Canada officials on Wednesday said they were continuing to test suspect toothpaste but noted that none of the samples collected so far have matched counterfeit Colgate products found in the U.S. last week.

"At this point, the samples that we have collected — none of them were identical to the samples that were collected by the U.S. FDA," said Jean Saint-Pierre, a compliance officer with Health Canada.

'When it said made in South Africa and it had no French text on it … it immediately made me think this was clearly not originally designed for the Canadian market.'—Steve Janke, consumer

Saint-Pierre said the federal agency is currently conducting a product analysis and is checking for diethylene glycol — a chemical used to make antifreeze and found in counterfeit toothpaste in the U.S.

"We don't know exactly the [amount] of toothpaste that [is] available in Canada but first I think we need to confirm that the product is not satisfactory and if it is fraudulently being displayed and sold in Canada," Saint-Pierre said.

Consumer Steve Janke, who found the suspect toothpaste in a Guelph dollar store, said he noticed the packaging didn't conform to the normal Canadian standards.

"When it said made in South Africa and it had no French text on it … it immediately made me think this was clearly not originally designed for the Canadian market," Janke said.

Consumers urged to check product packaging

Health Canada is encouraging consumers to check their products for an eight-digit drug identification number, a natural product number or a homeopathic medicine number. These numbers indicate that Health Canada has assessed the products for safety, effectiveness and quality, the federal agency says.

But Bruce Cran, the president of the Consumers' Association of Canada, says Health Canada should take a more proactive approach to weeding out unauthorized products from the marketplace.

"I don't think Health Canada does much at all except respond," Cran said. "In Europe, for instance, they have a system whereby the importer is held responsible for the goods he puts on the market and I think we should have something more along those lines."

Counterfeit toothpaste found in U.S.

Last week, the Colgate-Palmolive company said counterfeit toothpaste had been discovered in discount stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The company said the phoney toothpaste, imported from South Africa, may contain diethylene glycol.

The FDA issued a release urging consumers to be on the lookout for 100-ml tubes of toothpaste with packaging that reads "Manufactured in South Africa." Other misspelled words on the package include: "isclinically," "SOUTH AFRLCA" and  "South African Dental Assoxiation."