GENEVA, April 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on Firmenich's donation of 20 tons of hand sanitizer in Geneva, the Group is increasing its production capacity to 100 tons for hospitals, as well as medical and emergency services across the USA and Switzerland. Firmenich has transformed its production lines to provide hand sanitizer vital to limiting the spread of COVID-19 and meeting growing global demand.
"As a responsible company, it is critical for us to take action and demonstrate our solidarity with the local communities where we operate in these unprecedented times," commented Gilbert Ghostine, CEO of Firmenich. "This hand sanitizer will allow us to protect our people and the frontline emergency staff working relentlessly to combat this pandemic. I am extremely proud of and grateful to all our Firmenich colleagues who are going above and beyond to make this happen. Together, we will prove that solidarity is more contagious than the virus."
Firmenich was the first in its industry to adapt production at its Geneva site to donate 20 tons of hand sanitizer to the Geneva University Hospital (HUG), and medical and emergency services. In response to the growing shortage of hand sanitizer, the Group is increasing its production to 100 tons with donations being made to hospitals, medical centers, midwives, care workers, emergency services, public transportation, NGOs and community associations supporting the pandemic efforts. The Group is currently exploring further production lines in Europe and Asia to meet growing needs in local communities.
About Firmenich
Firmenich is the world's largest privately-owned perfume and taste company, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895. Driven by its purpose to create positive emotions to enhance wellbeing, naturally, Firmenich has designed many of the world's best-known perfumes and tastes, bringing delight to over four billion consumers every day. Renowned for its world-class research and creativity, as well as its leadership in sustainability, each year, Firmenich invests 10% of its turnover in R&D to understand and share the best that nature has to offer responsibly. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 3.9 billion Swiss Francs at end June 2019. More information about Firmenich is available at www.firmenich.com.