The Food Revolution Group to produce hand sanitiser to meet mounting demand caused by coronavirus
The Food Revolution Group will begin producing hand sanitiser later this month, which will be distributed by Careline Australia to clients in China and Australia.
The Food Revolution Group (ASX: FOD) may be the latest small cap to benefit commercially from the coronavirus outbreak, which has created a shortage of hand sanitiser in the Asia Pacific.
To take advantage of the sanitiser shortage, Food Revolution has formulated and sourced ingredients for an alcohol-based sanitiser with requisite bottles also currently being ordered.
The company plans to sell the sanitiser and its newly formed Sanicare brand.
According to Food Revolution, its distribution partner Careline Australia had received “unprecedented demand” for hand sanitiser both within Australia and from China.
Food Revolution plans to initially supply Careline directly with its Sanicare product.
Enabling Food Revolution to meet this market gap is its recently upgraded Mill Park plant in Melbourne.
The upgraded plant has a recently installed bottling line to produce the hand sanitiser.
It also includes a 1,260 square metre clean room and laboratory, which has capacity to produce and bottle numerous products including gels, powders, oils and cosmetics.
Commissioning of the bottling line is underway, with production of hand sanitiser to begin before the end of the month.
Additionally, two more machines have been built in China for Food Revolution’s new clean room factory including a powder sachet packaging machine and a liquid/gel sachet packaging machine.
“The versatility of Food Revolution’s upgraded plant with clean room and bottling capacity to meet the substantial demands of the Chinese market is evidenced by these developments and vindicates the company’s decision to invest in the new clean room factory to provide constant supply of high-quality Australia products to the Chinese market,” Careline chairman Dr Norman Li said.
Coronavirus outbreak
In the World Health Organisation’s latest situation report dated 17 February, there were 71,429 confirmed cases globally, with 70,635 of those cases within China.
The virus, which causes flu like symptoms can lead to respiratory distress and subsequently death.
It has now caused 1,775 deaths worldwide, with 1,772 occurring within China.
To avoid transmission, WHO has recommended frequent hand washing and avoiding contact with people showing symptoms of respiratory infections.