Owned by global conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive, Tom’s of Maine manufactures personal care products made with “naturally sourced and naturally derived ingredients” (according to its website). However, no one would guess that those “naturally derived” ingredients might include disease-causing bacteria.
That’s what happened, though, according to a warning issued to Tom’s of Maine by the Food and Drug Administration.
The warning stated that samples acquired from the water supply at the company’s Sanford, Maine, facility between June 2021 and October 2022 contained bacteria including Paracoccus yeei; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can lead to blood, lung, and urinary tract infections and has been linked to conjunctivitis (AKA “pink eye”) and peritonitis, a serious inflammatory condition that starts in the abdomen; and Ralstonia insidiosa, which can lead to sepsis. The contaminated water was used to make toothpastes and to rinse equipment.
Apparently, although the final product had been tested, there were no checks in place throughout the manufacturing process. Consumer complaints to the company about product smell, taste, and color went without being investigated because Tom’s of Maine didn’t consider them to be indicative of a trend. Yet, there were hundreds of complaints!
No product recalls have been issued but the FDA has advised Tom’s of Maine to provide a significant number of assessments and remediation plans. In its letter to the company, the FDA stated, “Water is a major ingredient in many of your OTC drug products. It is essential that you employ a water system that is robustly designed, and that you effectively control, maintain, and monitor the system to ensure it consistently produces water suitable for pharmaceutical use.”
While this news is shocking, reports about contaminated U.S. waterways and public water supply seem to be never ending. (Check this out.) The bacteria found in Tom’s of Maine’s water supply is commonly found in soil and water. That’s what makes Pure Haven’s commitment to using only the safest, purest ingredients in our products, right down to the water, so important.
Pure Haven has a water treatment facility within our facility, so that we can put the municipal water we use through a multi-step purification process and make sure it’s safe for our products, our employees, our customers, and the planet. It is a redundant system that includes triple sedimentation filtration, reverse osmosis, and UV filtration to provide the purest water possible. And even then, we have our water third-party tested for pfas (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a family of life-threatening chemicals that doesn’t break down in nature and is linked with cancer, birth defects, and hormone disruption) and other contaminants for utmost confidence, ensuring our redundant system is working as it should. We know that when water leaves our facility, whether in our product formulations or wastewater, it’s safer than when it came in!
Our multi-step water purification process is just one of the ways in which Pure Haven stands apart from other manufacturers. Additionally …
- All our products are formulated in-house.
- Our ingredient suppliers are required to provide affidavits and disclose sub-ingredients.
- Third-party testing is conducted to contamination, pfas, heavy metals, preservatives, mold, stability, and interaction between packaging and product.
- We manufacture more than 95% of our products.
- Every batch of every product we make is quality tested.
- Our manufacturing facility is USDA Certified Organic.
- We adhere to the strictest ingredients to avoid list.
- There is absolutely no animal testing.
- All Pure Haven products are made in the USA.
Ask your Pure Haven Consultant about our pure standards and our complete collection of guaranteed non toxic products for skin, hair, body, home, and more. Shop with Pure Haven with confidence, knowing that you can feel good about sharing them with your loved ones and not have to worry about what happens to the planet when our products are washed off your body and down your drains.
Sources:
Archie, A. 20 November 2024. The FDA says it found a ‘mold-like’ substance at a Tom’s of Maine plant : NPR.
Gomez, J. 20 November 2024. Bacteria-contaminated water was used to make Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, FDA finds. USA Today.