Health Canada warns Canadians of bacterial contamination in unauthorized peptides sold online

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult your Canadian healthcare provider about your situation.

What happened

Health Canada seized more than 11,400 vials of unauthorized injectable peptides from Shanghai ERP Peptide Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (ERP Peptide) and two Canadian online retailers in November 2026, after government lab testing found three distinct bacteria capable of causing serious harm in humans. For Canadians who have been buying peptides online, whether for weight loss, muscle growth, or anti-aging, this warning is direct: the products are illegal to sell in Canada, have never been assessed for safety or sterility, and at least one supplier's products are now confirmed to carry bacterial contamination.

In Canada, injectable peptides are regulated as prescription drugs under the Food and Drugs Act. That means they must be prescribed by a licensed healthcare professional and dispensed through a licensed pharmacy. Products sold through unregulated online vendors, particularly those shipped from overseas, bypass every one of those safeguards. Canadian patients who have used any ERP Peptide products should stop immediately and contact a physician, particularly if they have experienced fever, injection-site pain, or swelling.

What this means in Canada

Health Canada has not approved ERP Peptide or its products for sale in Canada. The specific peptides seized include Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), MOTS-C, NAD+, Retatrutide, Tesamorelin, and Tirzepatide. Some of these names will be familiar to patients following hormone and metabolic health news. Tirzepatide, for example, is the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, which are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are under Health Canada review for certain indications. Tesamorelin is FDA-approved (US) for HIV-related lipodystrophy and is available in Canada under the brand name Egrifta, but only through licensed prescribers. Buying any of these compounds from an unregulated online vendor is not a grey area under Canadian law: it is illegal.

Health Canada is working with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to intercept further shipments from ERP Peptide. The agency has also formally requested that ERP Peptide stop selling into Canada. Neither the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) nor the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has issued a specific position statement on this seizure, though the CMA flagged unauthorized peptide marketing as a pressing concern in April 2026. Provincial drug plans, including OHIP in Ontario, RAMQ in Quebec, MSP in British Columbia, and AHCIP in Alberta, do not cover unauthorized or unregulated drug products under any circumstances. Coverage for legitimately prescribed peptides varies by province and indication.

Why this matters

The contamination found in ERP Peptide products is not a theoretical risk. Bacterial contamination in an injectable product can cause localized infection at the injection site, systemic infection (sepsis), or worse, depending on the organism involved and the dose. Health Canada did not publicly name the three bacteria identified in testing, but the agency's warning covers a range of potential harms from unauthorized injectables more broadly: hormonal imbalance, blood sugar disruption, liver or kidney damage, blood clots, allergic reactions, and growth of cancerous tumours.

Beyond contamination, unauthorized products carry a quality problem that is harder to see. Without regulated manufacturing standards, a vial may contain far more or far less of the active ingredient than labelled. It may also contain solvents, heavy metals, glass or plastic particles, or unknown compounds. None of this is detectable by a patient inspecting a vial at home.

The peptide market in Canada has grown rapidly alongside broader interest in GLP-1 receptor agonists and longevity medicine. That growth has attracted suppliers who operate entirely outside Canadian regulatory oversight. The ERP Peptide seizure is the most concrete enforcement action Health Canada has taken in this space in recent memory, and it signals that the agency is actively monitoring online sales channels.

What Canadian patients should know

If you have purchased peptides online and are unsure whether they came from ERP Peptide or a retailer that stocked ERP Peptide products, stop using them. Check the product labelling and packaging for any reference to Shanghai ERP Peptide Biotechnology Co. Ltd. If you develop a fever, redness, swelling, or pain at an injection site, go to an emergency department or urgent care clinic and tell the clinician what you injected and when.

If you are interested in peptide therapies for a legitimate medical reason, the appropriate path in Canada is through a licensed prescriber. Several Canadian telehealth platforms offer consultations with physicians who can assess whether a regulated peptide therapy is appropriate for your situation. Science & Humans (scienceandhumans.com) is one Canadian platform that operates in this space. Felix, Cleo, and Maple also offer physician-led hormone and metabolic health consultations. None of these platforms can legally prescribe or dispense unauthorized compounds, and any platform that offers to do so should be treated with caution. US-only platforms such as Hone Health, Midi, and Winona do not serve Canadian patients and are not subject to Health Canada oversight.

For Canadians who have been prescribed a legitimate peptide such as Tesamorelin (Egrifta) or are on a GLP-1 therapy such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) or tirzepatide (Mounjaro), those prescriptions come through licensed Canadian pharmacies and are not affected by this warning.

Limitations and open questions

Health Canada has not publicly identified the three bacteria found in ERP Peptide products, which limits patients' ability to assess their specific risk. The agency has not said how many Canadians purchased from the two unnamed online retailers before the seizure, so the scale of potential exposure is unknown.

It is also not clear whether Health Canada's enforcement action will extend to other unauthorized peptide suppliers operating in Canada. The ERP Peptide seizure addresses one identified source. The broader market for unauthorized injectable peptides sold online remains active, and Health Canada has not announced a systematic enforcement program beyond this specific action.

The SOGC has not issued guidance on unauthorized peptide use in the context of hormone care, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has not funded published trials on the safety profile of the specific compounds seized. Until that evidence exists, clinicians and patients are working with limited data on what long-term exposure to contaminated or mislabelled peptides actually does.