Trial dates have been set for the owner of a Burnaby sex shop accused of selling products as “natural herbal” sex enhancers when they actually contained prescription erectile dysfunction drugs, according to Health Canada.
MFH International Enterprise Inc. and its sole director Duo Zhang (also known as Andy Zhang) were charged last August with multiple violations of the Food and Drugs Act between November 2020 and February 2021, according to the Richmond provincial court registry.
MFH owns sex shops in Burnaby, Vancouver and Richmond, including the Love in Love adult shop (also known as Male & Female Harmony) on Kingsway in Burnaby.
The stores are accused of selling two products Health Canada has warned Canadians about: “Harmony,” containing tadalafil (sold under the brand name Cialis) and “Passion Fem,” containing sildenafil (sold as Viagra).
“It was authorized as a natural health product,” a March 2021 Health Canada news release said of Harmony, “but Health Canada testing found it contains high levels of a prescription erectile dysfunction drug, tadalafil.”
Health Canada suspended the product licence for Harmony because it wasn’t authorized to contain tadalafil, it wasn’t authorized as a sexual enhancement product, and it didn’t list tadalafil on the product label, according to the warning.
Some samples of Harmony were found to contain about three times as much tadalafil per capsule as the maximum dosage authorized in prescription tadalafil, according to Health Canada.
The agency said it executed search warrants at four Lower Mainland sex shops, including Love in Love, and seized the product.
“The department is investigating the issue and will take additional action as needed,” stated the March 2021 news release.
Health Canada had also put out a warning about Passion Fem.
In October 2019, the agency announced it had suspended the sale of the product because it contained undeclared sildenafil and could pose “serious health risks.”
MFH and Duo, 49, were first charged in August 2022, for allegedly selling tadalafil and sildenafil in Burnaby, Vancouver and Richmond “in a manner that was false, misleading or deceptive,” according to the Richmond provincial court registry.
The charges against Duo were stayed in September 2022, but trial dates for MFH have been set for the fall, starting on Oct. 3 in Richmond provincial court.
The company has been charged with six counts of violating the Food and Drugs Act in Burnaby, Vancouver and Richmond.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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