Cleaning vs Disinfecting vs Sanitisation

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What do we mean by Cleaning?

Surface cleaning is obtained by removing debris, dust, film buildup and dirt using suitable chemicals and tools.  It is important to choose the correct chemical and cleaning equipment as obviously they need to be strong enough to remove the dirt whilst not damaging the actual surface or it’s surroundings.

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Sanitize or Disinfect?

Sanitising reduces the bacteria identified on the product label to a safe level. Sanitisers typically have ‘light’ cleaning ability and should be tested and certified to a standard in accordance with your countries requirements eg in Europe and the UK it’s typically a BS EN 1276 test.  Sanitizing is good for visibly clean surfaces and where full disinfection is not required.

Examples of good sanitisers are Clover S1 or Trio 100.

Disinfecting actually kills bacteria and if your disinfectant is virucidal (tested to BS EN 14476)  it will also kill viruses. Disinfecting is typically for medical environments or where the is bodily fluids like vomit or blood and is preceded by thorough cleaning. It is also good practice to disinfect if there is a known virus outbreak hence Virucidal disinfectants have recently become more commonly used following the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020.

Fragranced or Fragrance-free?

Micro Kill is a certified Virucidal disinfectant which is pleasantly fragranced and bleach-free, whilst Ultra AX which is a fragrance-free food-safe virucide.

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