“Don’t buy them”- UNBS warns public as it lists fake sanitisers

Uganda National Bureau of Standards has listed 15 sanitizer brands that they say are not up to standard and warn members of the public not to buy them.

After the Health Ministry recommended washing of hands with soap and sanitizing as some of the measures that can prevent the spread of coronavirus, a number of companies started manufacturing sanitisers   that are sold expensively to members of the public.

Members of the public were urged to buy sanitisers that have a minimum of 60 percent alcohol content.

However, UNBS carried out laboratory tests that proved some sanitizer brands are not up to the required  standard and urged the public to avoid them.

“UNBS would also like to appeal to the public not to buy  the 15 brands listed below because they failed  the laboratory tests regarding the alcohol content (min 60% min v/v), pH: 6-8 and Bactericidal efficacy, and are thus not certified by UNBS,” said Barbara Kamusiime, the senior Public Relations Officer at UNBS in a statement.

The substandard sanitizer brands include Lovillea Gelly Cologne Hand Sanitizer, Blue++ King Hand Sanitizer – Aloe, Yoza Hand Sanitizer; Strawberry, Oh So Heavenly Crème Oil, Steinfect Instant Hand Sanitizer, Roxy Hand Sanitizer and Serene Instant Hand Sanitizer.

Others are Mimi Hand Sanitizer Gel, LaFresh Instant Hand Sanitizer, Quick Flash Instant hand sanitizer, Afro Royal instant hand sanitizer gel, Focus Instant hand sanitizer, Tuku instant hand sanitizer and Cal Stat Plus instant hand sanitizer.

The standards body said in the statement that the 15 had failed the laboratory tests on a number of parameters including alcohol content, bactericidal efficacy and PH among other parameters.

“UNBS urges the public to report presence of the above 15 brands on the market using UNBS toll free line 0800 133 133, to enable the enforcement team to put them off the market.”

The standards body however listed 11 other sanitizer brands that it said had passed the laboratory tests and urged the public to use them.

“Following the provision of technical assistance to manufacturers and free sanitizer and disinfectant standards by UNBS, the number of companies certified to manufacture sanitisers is expected to increase. UNBS will thus issue an updated list on a weekly basis.”

After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the price for sanitisers more than tripled from shs30,000 to shs160,000 after the Health Ministry urged members of the public to use it to combat the spread of the virus.

Consequently, several companies started manufacturing sanitizers to make a kill after releasing there was a ready market for their products and at a higher price.

 

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