James Clarke, Lauren Oakes, Laura Miller, Phil Hindley, Paula McGeechan, Jordan Petkov, Dirk Bockmühl
September 5, 2018
Abstract
European domestic laundry habits are changing. Industry's move towards lower/ambient temperature washing and reduced water usage has resulted in lower degrees of microbial control leading to an increased risk to the health and wellbeing of the consumer. One solution targeted at mitigating this risk is the adoption of hygienic rinse-stage disinfectants to reduce the microorganisms in the laundry process. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of two commercially-available quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC)-based rinse-stage disinfectants using both suspension test methodology and an application test in ASTM E2406 modified to offer a potential solution for the future testing and registration of such products in Europe. In addition, this paper paves the way for further development and validation of testing methodologies while exploring ways to better deploy and optimise antimicrobial actives within the laundry environment.