New study finds that not all hand sanitisers are effective
Not only are a number of sanitisers not meeting the required minimum content standards but many are also not correctly labelled according to either local or international standards.
A recent study from the University of Pretoria has established that a number of commercially sold hand sanitisers don’t include the required minimum alcohol content as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide protection against Covid-19.
Not only are a number of sanitisers not meeting the required minimum content standards but many are also not correctly labelled according to either local or international standards.
The author of the study, Dr Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf, a Senior Lecturer in Entomology in the Department of Zoology and Entomology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria, says the challenge is that an insufficient amount of ethanol or other alcohol impacts the efficacy of the sanitising product. The prevalence of substandard hand sanitisers is largely driven by profit because ethanol, for example, is an expensive solution, he adds.
The study found that only 42% of the sanitisers analysed contained at least 70% alcohol while only 28% met the WHO’s recommended 80% alcohol content needed to protect against Covid-19. Of the off-the-shelf products analysed, 66% contained less than 70% alcohol compared to 13% of homemade products while only 18% of gel products included 70% alcohol.
Medical experts around the world agree that hand hygiene – which includes washing hands with soap and water or using a reputable hand sanitiser – remains one of the most effective ways of protecting against transmitting the Covid-19 virus.
The recent University of Pretoria study is not the first to find that commercially available hand sanitisers don’t contain the required amounts of alcohol. Last year a South African National Accreditation System (Sanas) laboratory found that around five of the 11 hand sanitisers it tested contained less than 70% of the recommended alcohol required to be effective against Covid-19 – despite most of them claiming to have the required levels of alcohol on their labelling.
In response to the increased number of questionable sanitising products that appeared on the market during 2020, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) introduced a new standard for hand sanitisers which included a minimum of 70% alcohol in the form of ethanol, isopropanol or n-propanol as well as specific labelling. In addition, it said sanitiser manufacturers were required to submit evidence providing the efficacy of their alcohol-based sanitisers and submit their products to the SABS for testing.
Only products which are audited and approved by the SABS are allowed to use the SABS 490 compliance symbol on their product labelling. According to Lovelace Mkhwanazi, Quality Control Manager and Regulations for Sanitouch at Infection Protection Products, a reputably manufactured hand sanitiser should have both the SABS 490 mark indicating that it is a medical quality, high alcohol content sanitiser, as well as the SABS 1853 mark indicating that it is approved for use in food production facilities.
Mkhwanazi explains that sanitisers are required to include the alcohol content level on the label or container, a list of active and inactive ingredients, instructions for use, warnings and precautions, the batch code and expiry date, the full address of the manufacturer, the results of the microbial activity tests results including contact times, SABS accreditations, and NRCS registrations if the product is used for surfaces as well as hands.
