GOJO Industries said it has responded to a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s that the company needs to stop making claims that its Purell hand sanitizers help eliminate viruses such as the flu, norovirus and Ebola.
In mid-January, the administration warned the company about making unproven marketing claims associated with several products on purell.com and on social media posts.
On Jan. 24, Gojo posted a statement on its corporate site saying it took “immediate action” on the FDA’s warning and noted that the regulators only are talking about marketing and not the safety, quality or manufacturing process behind its Purell line.
“It is important to emphasize that the FDA letter was not related to the safety or quality of our products, or our manufacturing processes. Our products can and should continue to be used as part of good hand hygiene practice, to reduce germs,” Samantha Williams, Corporate Communications Senior Director Samantha Williams said in the release. “It is our responsibility to ensure that we comply with all requirements of FDA regulations and federal law, and we take that responsibility very seriously. To that end, we have begun updating relevant website and other digital content as directed by the FDA and are taking steps to prevent a recurrence,” the statement reads.
Gojo did not respond to a request from McKnight’s for additional comment.
The FDA criticized claims connected to the company’s advanced hand sanitizer gentle & free foam, advanced hand sanitizer gel and advanced hand sanitizer ultra nourishing foam.
For its part, GOJO said in its statement that it has already responded to the FDA.
“Our intention has always been and continues to be to adhere to FDA guidance while advancing and sharing the latest hygiene science to help improve public health. Uncompromising integrity is a core value of our purpose-driven family enterprise and we apply this principle to everything we do,” the statement said.
