Wiping Tables

avatar

         It's not often I actually compare the difference between two cleaning products. Recently, I decided to read the labels of a Kroger brand cleaning wipe and compared that to the Clorox one. As expected, each brand lists the common pathogens they work against.

         Here is the Kroger label.

         And here is the Clorox label.

         It shouldn't come as surprise that the Clorox wipes seem to have a greater repertoire. Kroger is often seem as the more generic brand. It's like a step above Walmart's Great Value series.

         I found it somewhat interesting that Kroger's doesn't list E. coli on theirs. For whatever reason, it doesn't have Salmonella either. Instead, it's got Campylobacter, which is a legitimate food pathogen. The ATCC number you see refers to the strain of the bacteria. This is a nomenclature by ATCC, which describe the strains' properties.

         On the other hand, Clorox makes a point to distinguish between MRSA and normal S. aureus. I would think antibiotic resistance has little to do with how well chemical agents kill them. The label also mentions Pseudomonas, which is more of an opportunistic pathogen. Okay, it's not an uncommon nosocomial infection. The hospitals and labs tend to use more potent cleaning agents to deal with them than Clorox wipes.

         Of course, one cannot ignore the PR by Clorox by listing Covid as one of the things their wipes are good against. I'm sure anything that can affect Influenza virus can affect almost every other virus.

         But hey, bonus scent!

         At the end of the day, the key to use these wipes is to make sure the surface is wet with cleaning agent and let it airdry. I'm willing to bet most people either don't keep the surface wet with the cleaning agent or wipe it off too early. When that happens, you aren't actually allowing the germs to succumb to the cleaner. I guess you could file this under user error.

         The same protocol applies to cleaning agents used in hospitals and labs. You let things soak and airdry. Every now and then, there are cultures set up to check if anything is growing on work surfaces.

         How would you know if your product or technique is working? Well, if you could obtain some agar plates, you could always try to experiment yourself. Take a swab and swipe the surface before cleaning. Inoculate that on the agar. Then, after disinfection, you could take another swab and do the same. Growth will determine the efficacy of your choices.

         Some things to think about.

Posted with STEMGeeks



0
0
0.000
6 comments
avatar

pixresteemer_incognito_angel_mini.png
Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 68 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
4

0
0
0.000
avatar

I think the reason most don't let it sit long enough outside of using it on bathroom surfaces is when using it in the kitchen they usually go in there to prepare food, most people don't stop to think I should go wipe down the kitchen before I have to fix supper. I guess one could wipe everything down the night before but then maybe they are afraid they'll forget to wipe the surface again to get the chemical off which could be just as bad in the long run continually disgusting bits of bleach for years.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I genuinely think most people never bothered to read the directions on the labels.

0
0
0.000
avatar

They probably don't. My personal experience comes from many years back, many, many, lol. I told the guys I worked with that I was going to make them brownies. I didn't have a container to put them in to keep them fresh so I asked the neighbor upstairs. She gave me a plastic container with a lid to put them in. What transpired afterwards sure told the polite gentlemen from the not so polite gentlemen that I worked with. lol. I am walking around handing out these brownies, most took a bite or two, smiled and said thank you, then I got to a group of guys who immediately spit them out. Seems she used the dish a few days prior to clean the house using lysol but she forgot to wash the dish back out, the remaining lysol and water mixture dried onto the bottom of the container and my brownies sitting in there overnight somehow absorbed into the brownies. Needless to say they were never in a hurry for me to cook them anything ever again. I was never much of a cook back then anyways, which was one reason why I made them the brownies, I felt bad that they just loved the baked beans I brought to a holiday potluck, actually I bought baked beans in a can and put them in a casserole dish like I made them myself. Not being one to tell lies I fessed up and thought I'd make it up to them. I always have said it's a wonder my kids ever survived my cooking. I can't even tell you how long it took to perfect making homemade cookies and banana bread....well, I don't even want to go there....lol.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That sounds like a series of unfortunate events.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Lucky for me they were mild stones in comparison...the block chain doesn't have room for the rest...lol.

0
0
0.000