FDA Warns Public About Hand Sanitizers -They Look Like Food Or Beverages

The US Food and Drug Administration had warned Americans to be very careful with hand disinfectants that might look like baby food or beer. Moreover, they said that poison control centers are recording a 79 percent increase in exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitizers compared to 2019. Hand sanitizers may also be toxic when swallowed.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that people recently became ill or even died, after swallowing a hand sanitizer that contains methanol.

The federal agency also said  that the packaging of such disinfectants endangers the customers as they could easily mistake the product for a beverage or food and ingest them.

Due to the fact that COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shortage of hand sanitizer containers as well, some of the manufacturers had no other choice but to use beer cans, food pouches and bottles used for water, juice and vodka. Therefore some hand sanitizers come in packages like water bottles, food pouches and beer cans, whereas several even contained food flavors such as raspberry or chocolate, which is of a particular concern.

The FDA called on health care professionals and consumers to report any such or similar instances to the agency’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program.

Officials also highlighted that consumers who wish to report quality problems they experienced regarding hand sanitizer use must provide  as much information as possible to the agency, in order to identify the product as soon as possible. The federal agency also urged the public to check the list of hand sanitizers posted on the FDA’s website, so they can be properly informed about products they should avoid.

Furthermore, FDA already issued a warning regarding toxic compounds in many hand sanitizers. One such ingredient to be on the particular lookout for is methanol and agency had already banned over 170 products in the past few months, since they contained methanol.