Suppose you have some utensils and dishes that came into contact with raw meat. After cleaning them with hot soapy water, if I also use Lysol sanitizing wipes, what proportion of the bacteria is killed? How does this relate to using a bleach solution for sanitizing?
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1Hi Applesnax, your quesiton was based on a wrong assumption - neither your wipes nor bleach will kill 100% of bacteria. I reworded your question to be closest to your original - to compare which proportion is killed with each (it is still somewhat underdefined, because we haven't specified what strength of bleach solution is meant, hopefully the answerers will have numbers at hand). But we cannot tell you whether the reduction in bacteria is "good enough" or not, this is a decision you have to make yourself after the answers with the numbers come in.– rumtscho ♦Jul 30, 2020 at 12:38
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5Why do you think you need to do more than clean with hot soapy water? Are you in a commercial situation, or at home? There are sanitizing protocols for restaurants and sometimes sterilizing protocols for commercial enterprises, but these are not often necessary for home use. Explaining your setting would result in a better answer.– moscafjJul 30, 2020 at 13:02
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4If you are cleaning your utensils thoroughly with hot soapy water then you will get minimal benefit from using a bleach solution or lysol. This is because hot soapy water is already very effective at cleaning.– GdDJul 30, 2020 at 13:41
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@moscafj: I heard that hot water and soap is for removing grease and debris from dishes in order to prepare them for disinfection, but it doesn't itself kill bacteria. To do so, I heard you have to follow up with a disinfecting agent. Also this is a home cooking setting (not commercial).– ApplesnaxJul 30, 2020 at 14:14
1 Answer
Here is a good explanation of why hand washing is effective. The same applies to kitchen utensils. For home cleanliness in the kitchen, hot, soapy water is generally all that is necessary for clean up. There are, of course, situations where you want to sanitize, or even sterilize...for example, I sanitize when brewing beer, because I want only one strain of yeast (the one I add) to be active. Also when canning, one wants to be sure that jars are free of any contaminants. However, for normal, everyday clean-up...even with raw meat, soap and water gets the job done.
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Even with viruses, soap and water gets the job done, one might add.– CerberusJul 30, 2020 at 14:27
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