UPDATE: Apollo Bay Distillery has confirmed it has recovered all incorrectly labelled bottles from the product safety recall issued on Monday 8 June.
A spokesperson from the distillery told Food & Drink Business: "We are very sorry this occurred. Rest assured we will be following up our procedures to ensure this does not occur again.
"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."
Victorian distiller Apollo Bay Distillery has recalled nine of its gin products, discovering they had been filled with hand sanitiser due to incorrect labelling.
The SS Casino Gins sold between 5 and 7 June at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse were not correctly sealed and did not have a shrink label seal on pack.
The bottles contain 1.45 per cent glycerol and 0.125 per cent hydrogen peroxide, commonly used to make hand sanitiser.
Apollo Bay Distillery released a statement on its Facebook page, which said the products are understood to not be toxic, but consumption of the product “may have side effects including nausea, headaches, dizziness, bloating, vomiting, thirst and diarrhea”.
A spokesperson from Apollo Bay Distillery told Food & Drink Business: “We are confident of rectifying the situation. We will provide an update once we have the bottles recovered on our Facebook page.”
Apollo Bay Distillery has asked customers to “return [the bottles] to where you purchased it from for a full refund or replacement”.
A number of distilleries, large and small, were developing their own hand sanitiser to meet shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
