The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is levying fees of more than $14,000 on distilleries that converted to produce hand sanitizer earlier in the year when the COVID pandemic left supplies critically short.
Locally, both Black Button Distillery and Iron Smoke Distillery in Rochester together made hundreds of thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and gave it all away.
Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce CEO Bob Duffy says local distilleries stepped up and shifted their product lines to help fill the need when the demand was critical. He says they donated product at tens-of-thousands of dollars in losses to hospitals, medical offices, schools and restaurants. He says the fees being assessed by the FDA should be canceled immediately.