We are scratching the surface of a future problem that is only going to get worse. It's starting with toothpaste (see Contaminated Counterfeit Toothpaste Now Found in 6 States, Canada) and it could spread to food, toys, personal hygiene products, or any other outsourced, manufactured product. It's a little disturbing to think that nobody involved knows where these counterfeit products are coming from.
It's not clear from what I read so far how the products made it into national distribution channels. However, this is evidence that businesses in the United States have not done much about their own security. Let's say that Colgate-Palmolive is completely out of the loop on this–their factories and overseas partners had nothing to do with the counterfeiting and distribution. Somebody somewhere had these products shipped to the United States. Then the products were somehow accepted into retail logistics channels.
In recent years, product counterfeiting has increased. Now that safety is an issue, this changes what was once a profit issue for companies to a public security issue. While retailers are overhauling systems for RFID technology, it may be time to factor security in the mix. RFID technology may be a solid technology to help retail stores know if they are receiving legitimate products or not. However, many cases of the tainted toothpaste wound up in dollar stores, which are generally not on the cutting edge of retail technology.
Naturally, security should be considered when it comes to technology design and implementation. But security should be a part of every day business. From business processes to vendor management, security should be an integral component of how all business activities are set up. Unfortunately, this isn't happening. Business culture in the United States is so bottom-line focused that self-regulation is missing. This will force Congress to regulate security in American business, which will be yet another layer of compliance businesses will have to consider. It will take the security equivalent of Enron for businesses to wake up to security and it will be too late. After the Senate hearings and endless media coverage, another Sarbanes-Oxley type law will be passed, costing businesses much more than if they just took care of it themselves.
See also: Colgate's Toothpaste Safety page
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