A mother in Manitoba, Canada, is warning other parents after her toddler accidentally drank hand sanitizer that was mistakenly given to him as a children’s snack.
Nikki Teixeira said her 18-month-old son, Logan, became briefly ill last month after he drank from the pouch, which his grandmother unwittingly fed to him thinking it was fruit puree, reports said.
The package was branded with a cartoon figure from the movie “Trolls.”
»RELATED: Beware of hand sanitizers in food and drink packages, FDA warns
In late August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that hand sanitizers made with alcohol were being found in everyday food and drink containers, and that some of the products were even flavored to taste sweet.
And like the Teixeira case, some of the packages were being marketed with children’s imagery which made them look like snacks.
“The agency has discovered that some hand sanitizers are being packaged in beer cans, children’s food pouches, water bottles, juice bottles and vodka bottles,” according to a news release from the FDA. “Additionally, the FDA has found hand sanitizers that contain food flavors, such as chocolate or raspberry.”
Teixeira said she realized the package was hand sanitizer when she bought it for her 7-year-old stepdaughter. But the girl said she didn’t need an extra one, so Teixeira tossed the container into the diaper bag, where her mother later found it and fed it to the boy.
“He took a sip and immediately turned red and started coughing, so she grabbed it from him and then immediately saw it was hand sanitizer,” Teixeira said, according to “Good Morning America.”
“She called her neighbor and called 911 because he started to get a little bit dozy and out of it, and then five minutes later he was falling asleep.”
The boy ultimately experienced only mild symptoms but was taken to a hospital as a precaution. Afterward, Teixeira said her son had lost his appetite and was irritable for the rest of the day, but luckily suffered no other complications.
She later shared the harrowing experience on Facebook.
“Please *SHARE* with as many people as possible to raise awareness as schools are reopening soon and the hand sanitizers will be in circulation,” Teixeira wrote on the post, which has now been shared more than 300 times.
“The way that it’s positioned in the aisle made it easy to buy, and it’s alluring and cute,” Teixeira told GMA. “I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”
The maker of the hand sanitizer Teixeira bought is sold under the brand name Smart Care, which has since ordered the removal of the products from store shelves, GMA reported.
“We were recently made aware of a concern expressed by a parent regarding our hand sanitizer sold in a 0.84-ounce pouch. We took this concern seriously and immediately removed the product from retail,” a spokesperson for the company, Ashtel Studios, told ABC News in a statement. “As safety is our No. 1 priority, we have switched out this packaging for our bottled hand sanitizer to eliminate any misconception or concern. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.”
FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said last month that manufacturers should take more care and use more unequivocal packaging to protect consumers from accidental poisonings, noting that this scenario could be toxic or worse deadly for a child.
“I am increasingly concerned about hand sanitizer being packaged to appear to be consumable products, such as baby food or beverages. These products could confuse consumers into accidentally ingesting a potentially deadly product. It’s dangerous to add scents with food flavors to hand sanitizers which children could think smells like food, eat and get alcohol poisoning,” Hahn wrote in the release.
The agency plans to keep an eye on store shelves and take action where needed, Hahn said.
During the summer, the Food and Drug Administration added a dozen more gel hand sanitizers to a growing list of potentially deadly products that tested positive for methanol contamination.
Most if not all of the brands were produced in Mexico, and some have reportedly been sold at Walmart and Target. Recent tests found dangerous methanol levels in 87 products that were mislabeled as ethanol, according to the FDA.
A complete list of the toxic products can be found on the FDA website.
Methanol, or wood alcohol, is poisonous and not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and can be deadly if ingested or absorbed through the skin. The chemical is used to create fuels and antifreeze.
“Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death,” according to the FDA.
Some of the products on the FDA’s list have already been recalled, while others are being recommended for recalls.
The agency is working with manufacturers and distributors to ensure the removal of all the products from American store shelves.
The FDA said it was aware of adults and children recently ingesting the contaminated sanitizers, which has led to hospitalizations.
The agency reportedly sent a recent warning letter to one product manufacturer “regarding the distribution of products labeled as manufactured at its facilities with undeclared methanol, misleading claims – including incorrectly stating that FDA approved these products — and improper manufacturing practices,” according to news reports.
Demand for hand sanitizer increased dramatically amid the coronavirus pandemic and led to a spike in counterfeit products as one of the most ubiquitously available toiletries quickly vanished from stores in the early days of the outbreak. Many households were forced to buy 80 proof vodka as a substitute.
The FDA first warned consumers in early June about nine hand sanitizer products to avoid due to the possible presence of methanol. More and more brands have been added to the list since.
The agency also advised consumers not to flush or pour the products down the drain, but to dispose of them in appropriate hazardous waste containers.
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