Australians are being urged to look for the 'Made in New Zealand' mark on a leading brand of laundry powder after 40 tonnes of fake product was seized at the border.
New South Wales police and customs officials yesterday detained a shipment of 9kg square buckets labelled as OMO laundry powder - a global brand of multinational giant Unilever sold under the Persil name in New Zealand.
The counterfeit product was made in China, whereas the genuine product sold in Australasia is made at Unilever's Wellington plant in Petone.
A spokeswoman for Unilever Australasia said no counterfeit product was thought to have entered the New Zealand market.
Unilever has reassured Australian customers that OMO products marked 'Made in New Zealand' were genuine and guaranteed to perform in line with expectations.
The seizure comes after 33 tonnes of counterfeit OMO in similar packaging was stopped at the Australian border earlier this year.
Charges including attempted importation and sale of the counterfeit product were likely to be laid.
