Government inspectors have warned 16 companies which started making disinfectant gels and washes to cash in on the coronavirus crisis that their products are not up to scratch and one has been fined for making an unsafe sanitiser.

An ice cream maker and several alcoholic drink companies are among the new players who started producing disinfectants earlier in the crisis, as the government relaxed the licencing rules on a temporary basis.

But many of the new products on the market had wrong or incomplete labels, while others had too much or too little alcohol, the inspectors say. Most mistakes could be easily cleared up and the companies could continue production.

In total, inspectors visited 70 production facilities but say 25 companies actually withdrew from the market fairly quickly because it was not as easy and as cost efficient to produce the sanitisers as they had hoped.