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Missouri Companies Shift Focus, Produce Hand Sanitizer in Fight Against COVID-19

  • April 24, 2020

Companies across Missouri are stepping up in a big way, retrofitting their current product lines to produce hand sanitizer for the fight against COVID-19. Cosmos Corporation, a pet product manufacturer located in St. Louis, Missouri, is among the companies producing hand sanitizer. Cosmos Corporation has donated thousands of bottles to local charities and critical organizations across the region to keep at-risk community members safe.

“To have our employees see the need for hand sanitizer locally, then rally to provide a solution, has been special and representative of our company mission to give back to those in need,” said Landon Hobson, CEO of Cosmos Corporation. “These are unique times for us all, but the St. Louis community is one that always comes together and I’m grateful to our employees, suppliers and partners for their hard work in helping produce and distribute this product at a moment of great need.”

The pet product manufacturer isn’t the only company that shifted gears to produce hand sanitizer. Anheuser-Busch has started to make hand sanitizer to combat the COVID-19 outbreak as well.

“We have a long history of supporting our communities and employees – this time is no different. That’s why we are using our supply and logistics network to begin producing and distributing bottles of hand sanitizer to accommodate the growing needs across the United States,” the company said in a statement.

On the other side of the state, J. Rieger & Co. Distillery, in Kansas City, Missouri, has begun production as well.

“In 48 hours, we switched over our entire business,” said Lucy Rieger. The distillery is making sanitizer in two-liter bottles by the pallet these days, working to keep up with the requests pouring in. “I’ve been getting about 500 a day.”

And in Columbia, Nanova, a medical device company that makes dental and surgical products, has developed a hand sanitizer with 70% ethyl alcohol. The sanitizer can be bought by individuals and in bulk at reduced prices by health care facilities.

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