When the global COVID-19 pandemic began, we saw a sudden and unprecedented increase in consumer demand for certain products. Toilet paper, dried pasta, and tinned tomatoes were in short supply and there was a dramatic increase in the consumption of hand sanitising products.
Increasing the availability of hand sanitisers
In order to increase the availability of hand sanitisers in schools, kindergardens or grocery stores the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that alcohol-based hand rub formulations could be produced locally by pharmacies and private companies.[1] The WHO guidelines for the manufacture of hand sanitiser are publicly available and many companies began creating and selling their own products following their recipe and other similar ones.[2]
As a result, new hand sanitisers have surged onto the market including, unfortunately, substandard products.[3] In fact, recent studies published show that many of the hand sanitisers launched during the COVID-19 pandemic are non-compliant. French fraud (DGCCRF) showed for example that 38% of brands they tested were non-compliant, and a further 35% were both non-compliant and dangerous.[4]
Mixing products can have consequences
Not only are there now more products from which to choose. But, due to a shortage of standard-sized bottles and pumps, some of these products have been packaged and sold in large quantities which are being used to refill existing dispensers and bottles. Combined, the issues with availability and large product quantities have resulted in a new practice of sanitiser refilling or “topping up”, often with inferior product. Whilst this may have been a short-term solution to an availability issue, it has become a widespread practice which some businesses plan to continue even post-COVID.[5] Unfortunately, this practice has several negative consequences affecting both businesses and end users.
Adding product to a bulk-refill dispenser for example creates new product mixes. If the mixed products are different from each other, this can result in ingredients combining in unknown measures and new products being created which are untested and unproven. Ingredients may even react with each other, creating unknown side-effects. There is also a chance that new and expired products could combine, potentially reducing the effectiveness of the resultant output.
Huge issue with compliance and traceability
Not only is this bad from an efficacy and effectiveness point of view, it is also a huge issue with regards compliance and traceability. Mixed or topped-off products no longer match the product labels, making it impossible to trace the source of any potential skin reactions.
And there is another problem: When you refill a dispenser with the wrong product, it can impact how many pumps you need to kill germs. Many dispensers are calibrated for specific refills and they dispense exactly the right amount of that product. If alternative products are added to these machines, there is a chance that the amount of hand sanitiser dispensed is not sufficient to meet sanitising norms for the new product.
The wrong product may even jam the pump of the dispenser, resulting in the need for otherwise unnecessary maintenance or replacement. And last but not least open refills can also be easily diluted resulting in users requiring more product than normal to maintain efficacy, which they may not know to do. The proportion of alcohol in hand sanitising products is critical to their effectiveness – the WHO advises that an effective alcohol-based hand rub product should contain between 60% and 80% of alcohol.[6]
Reduced effectiveness can cause great harm
All these examples show that hand sanitisers are a regulated product for a good reason. But we have good news for you: Distributors and end users strongly benefit from the power of the PURELL® brand, and from the quality of our products. Choose PURELL SANITARY SEALED™ refills for your PURELL dispensers in order to ensure end users have a positive experience when performing hand hygiene.
Thanks to carefully selected ingredients and SANITARY SEALED refills, you can feel confident you are offering hand sanitiser that is effective and uncontaminated. With a wide range of PURELL dispensing systems available now and a steady, robust supply of PURELL® Advanced Hand Sanitiser refills, it’s easy to make a safe and effective choice.
Stay healthy!
[1] WHO Recommendation to Member States to improve hand hygiene practices widely to help prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/inaugural-who-partners-forum/who-interim-recommendation-on-obligatory-hand-hygiene-against-transmission-of-covid-19.pdf
[2] Guide to Local Production: WHO-recommended Handrub Formulations https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf?ua=1
[3] Berardi, Alberto et al. “Hand sanitisers amid CoViD-19: A critical review of alcohol-based products on the market and formulation approaches to respond to increasing demand.” International journal of pharmaceutics vol. 584 (2020): 119431. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2020.119431 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7229736/
[4] https://www.economie.gouv.fr/files/files/directions_services/dgccrf/presse/communique/2020/cp-dgccrf%20-gha-11-2020.pdf
[5] Study of Hand Sanitiser Refilling Behaviors, GOJO 2020
[6] World Health Organization. (2020). Recommendations to Member States to improve hand hygiene practices to help prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus: interim guidance, 1 April 2020. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/331661. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
