Australian Distillery Urgently Recalls Gin Bottles Accidentally Filled With Hand Sanitizer

With quarantine and stay at home orders still in place around the world many people have turned to alcohol to help pass time.

Unfortunately one Australian manufacturer, Victoria’s Apollo Bay Distillery, mistakenly sold at least nine of its 700ml bottles of SS Casino Dry Gin that were actually full of hand sanitizer.

The gin bottles were recalled because they contained 1.45 percent glycerol and 0.125 percent hydrogen peroxide, which when consumed can cause a variety of illnesses.

The Australian Food Standards Code urged consumers to avoid drinking the sanitizer as it can have harsh side effects including nausea, headaches, dizziness, bloating, vomiting, thirst and diarrhea.

NewstalkZB said that one of the unlucky customers commented under the Distillery’s Facebook post that she felt ill after drinking a glass.

The customer claimed: “Had one glass of this at lunchtime and had a really bad headache and felt nauseous (sic) about 1 hour after and had to take nausea tablets and nurofen,” the customer continued.

“Thought I was getting unwell I had no idea until now! If it doesn’t taste right don’t drink it!!! Be careful!”

Other Facebook users joked about the incident in the comments. One user wrote: “Explains why nan got so wild at dinner.”

Another user said: “For when you want to sanitize your digestive system. Yolo.”

Alcohol manufacturers throughout the world have been lending a helping hand in mass producing hand sanitizer as its demand skyrocketed during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Apollo Bay Distillery spokesperson told Inside FMCG, “We can now confirm we have recovered all incorrectly labelled bottles from the product safety recall issued on Monday 8 June. We are very sorry this occurred. Rest assured we will be following up our producers to ensure this does not occur again.”

On Monday a statement posted on Apollo Bay Distillery’s Facebook page said: “The bottles were incorrectly labeled and had no seal. We understand they are not toxic. Should you have purchased a bottle of SS Casino Gin between Friday 5 June to Sunday 7 June please return it to where you purchased it from for a full refund or replacement.”

“We’d like to thank those who were affected for being so understanding. We are in the process of fully refunding and providing a replacement product to those impacted. Thank you to everyone who shared the recall, and the media for publicising it, as this enabled us to recover the products quickly.”

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