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By Robert Jablon

Associated Press
Posted: 02/27/2009 04:08:44 PM PST

LOS ANGELES — A company that sold nearly 80,000 tubes of Chinese toothpaste containing a poisonous ingredient has pleaded no contest to violating California's health and safety code, prosecutors said today.

Selective Imports Corp. of Vernon entered the plea Thursday to a misdemeanor health code violation of selling an adulterated drug product.

The company will be placed on three years of probation and must follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for recalling the toothpaste, said Supervising Deputy City Attorney Jerry Baik.

The company also agreed to donate $33,000 to a local charity.

"If you're doing business with an international trade ... you have a moral obligation to make sure that that product is safe for our consumers," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said.

A second charge against the company and four additional charges against its president and vice president were dropped, Baik said.

A call to the lawyer for Selective Imports wasn't immediately returned Friday.

Prosecutors said that between December 2005 and May 2007, Selective Imports sold to distributors nationwide about 78,300 tubes of a Chinese-made toothpaste called "Cooldent" that contained diethylene glycol, also known as diglycol or DEG.