With a growing awareness of the dangers among consumers of even naturally produced cleaning products, cleaning companies have been forced to turn to “old home remedies” in an attempt to balance cleaning and sanitizing with green and sustainable trends. Unfortunately, this has led to quite a lot of misinformation, especially about the effectiveness of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide as cleaners and disinfectants. While none of these individually are an effective or cost-effective choice for cleaning companies looking to turn a profit, together they just might be the solution you're looking for.
Science: Key Research on Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide
In the USA in Spokane, distilled white vinegar found in grocery stores is typically 9% acetic acid and has a pH of 2-3. In a study on “antimicrobial activity of household disinfectants and natural products against potential human pathogens,” infection control researchers tested 9% vinegar against some common human pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria and stated unequivocally that it “demonstrated insufficient activity and therefore should not be used.” as a household disinfectant.” With the help of this and not only specialists from https://www.livecleantoday.com/ carry out environmentally friendly cleaning, which is very useful for the human body.It is harmless and contributes to even better cleaning if you know how to use it correctly. Cleaning professionals know how and how much to use for high-quality cleaning. Specialists are trained in this so that they can carry out high-quality cleaning.
Fourteen years later, a study on "acetic acid, the active ingredient in vinegar, is an effective tuberculocidal disinfectant" states that 6% acetic acid effectively kills M. tuberculosis, and 10% acetic acid kills more resistant mycobacteria, as after a soak time of 30 minutes. They argue that because of these results, vinegar 6-10% is likely to be a widely effective Biocide with potential benefit in medical settings in poor countries. Other studies are in progress.
Hydrogen peroxide is considered an environmentally friendly alternative to chlorine bleach because it breaks down into water and oxygen. Commercially available 3% hydrogen peroxide is considered a stable and effective CDC disinfectant when used on inanimate objects. Under normal conditions, hydrogen peroxide is extremely stable when stored properly. Keep in mind that hydrogen peroxide is extremely sensitive to light and effectiveness decreases over time when not stored in dark containers.Household vinegar, in the range of 4% to 8% acetic acid, scores poorly on disinfection speed (10 minutes or more), attack spectrum (mostly effective only on the easiest microorganisms to kill), cleaning efficiency (poor cleaning ability and mostly useless against fatty substances) and safety profile (primarily unsafe at high acid concentrations, although regular household vinegar has a strong odor and can irritate the breath). As expected, vinegar had a large environmental profile and cost-benefit ratio.
The effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide depended on the concentration, while household strength (3%) was low in terms of disinfection rate. The spectrum of damage also depended on concentration, but 3% hydrogen peroxide worked well as a surface disinfectant. Since it is an oxidizing agent and forms bubbles and foams, it performs acceptably as a cleaning agent and has a good safety profile as it is non-irritating and non-toxic at lower concentrations. The environmental profile was great, as it degrades into water and oxygen, as well as its cost-effectiveness.
Combination of Powers: Peracetic Acid
What about when they are used together? When chemically combined, acetic acid plus hydrogen peroxide is known as peracetic acid and was first used as a disinfectant in 1985. Again, the concentration of a product is key to its speed and effectiveness as a disinfectant, its ability as a cleaner, and its safety profile. As expected, it is cost effective and has a low environmental impact.
Is there another way to use them together as common household ingredients? Several natural or eco-friendly cleaning websites have mentioned using vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together as a disinfectant tag team.
These articles claim that by spraying undiluted white vinegar and then spraying 3% hydrogen peroxide onto the surface, you get a simple, safe “disinfectant” recipe that is more effective than any commercial cleaner at killing bacteria, and as a bonus, inexpensive! , “and you could “disinfect everything in your home.” Claiming the effectiveness of this recipe as a surface disinfectant, one article referenced a study done by a researcher at a particular university.It was actually a very interesting experiment that showed that mechanical washing with acetic acid and 3% hydrogen peroxide, sprayed separately but sequentially on beef carcass tissue, was effective in reducing beef contamination with Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli. These are, as a rule, the key microorganisms that require disinfection in residential areas.
Unfortunately, the article has taken the leap from these two products being effective against specific bacteria on beef tissue directly to being effective as a home disinfectant on household surfaces, which is certainly irresponsible and possibly dangerous. Taking such studies out of context is what makes the content of some of these websites suspicious. While hydrogen peroxide rinses have been used for decades in the poultry industry (I have found additional studies showing separate vinegar and hydrogen peroxide rinses) and have been shown to be effective in reducing specific (but not all) microbes on certain vegetables and fruits (namely apples and celery), there are no studies testing this combination on household surfaces, and definitely nothing requiring disinfection.
Disinfection
Household bleach, or sodium hypochlorite, is the gold standard for household disinfection because it has the broadest antimicrobial spectrum of any household disinfectant, and nothing seems to match that; but there is room for natural products that reduce microbes in the environment.It is possible to use products such as hydrogen peroxide and vinegar to bring down germ levels to the point where they won't cause an infection, but it's simply not possible to sterilize with them.
An important point that the most glaring article missed is the fact that if your goal is to kill germs on any type of hard surface, no matter what product you plan to use, you must clean the surface first. Certified disinfectants, organic soil interferes with the germ-killing abilities of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Also, neither hydrogen peroxide nor vinegar cleans dirt very well, so you should use a good detergent to remove soil and rinse well before adding vinegar and then hydrogen peroxide to kill germs.
Also, some types of vinegar, such as apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar, can stain surfaces and should probably not be used. Vinegar can also damage some surfaces, such as marble, simply because it's an acid, so it's important to be aware of the surfaces you're using it on.
The residence time is important if there is a specific organism you are trying to kill. As germ killers, hydrogen peroxide and vinegar work well in tandem because they both kill germs in different ways. Vinegar is better at killing some germs and hydrogen peroxide is better at others, but soak times can still take up to 30 minutes and there are no definitive studies to guide users if you want to kill a specific germ.
The good news is that there will be more research to study certain germ-killing procedures and times, as cheap and effective ways to kill germs in poor countries are a priority among the international medical communities, so stay tuned. In the meantime, to reduce germs to a safe level (though still not disinfecting), here's a proven recipe: * Hydrogen peroxide (3% solution)
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