Tom's of Maine

Tom’s of Maine has made toothpaste in Sanford since long before Colgate-Palmolive bought the company in 2006, and it still does: the plant is named, the town is named, and an independent fact brief puts all toothpaste and deodorant production there as of 2021.

That is more than most of this category will tell you, and it earns the second mark rather than the fourth. It does not earn the first. Toothpaste is a formulation and nothing published accounts for where its ingredients come from — the same reason every other brand in this category sits where it does.

The limit worth stating is line coverage. The company’s smaller ranges are made by contract manufacturers outside Maine, and neither the company nor the fact brief says where. A shopper who reads “Tom’s of Maine” as a guarantee across the shelf is reading more into it than the evidence supports; the toothpaste and the deodorant are the part that is documented.