Alcohol distillers who have reconfigured their operations to produce hand sanitizer are running into confusing regulatory hurdles from the Trump administration, Newsweek magazine reported.

Among the groups raising concerns is the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, or DISCUS, which said that temporary guidance offered by the Food and Drug Administration about producing sanitizer has hampered rather than helped in some cases.

"These facilities are run by really smart people, they're chemists, and so forth. They've got the expertise and the know-how, yet one of the main challenges has been following the FDA's guidance," DISCUS CEO Chris Swonger told Newsweek. "The FDA inadvertently created some confusion and challenges with the guidance they issued on this."

According to FDA guidance, distillers must manufacture ethanol that's destined for hand sanitizer with a denaturant, a substance added to industrial solvents to discourage their ingestion by small children, the publication reported. However, distillers said denaturant wreaks havoc on their equipment and prices for the additive have soared in recent weeks.

The agency did not return Newsweek's request for comment on its guidance.

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