Curățare, igienizare, dezinfectare: care este diferența? - Toreco

Cleaning, Sanitizing, Disinfecting: What’s the Difference?

Curățare, igienizare, dezinfectare: care este diferența?

An essential part of running a successful business is maintaining a clean environment.

It’s important to understand the different depths of cleaning to decide what method and practices you should take in your location to slow the spread of diseases and viruses.

We’ll be exploring the differences between cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing so that you can best incorporate them in your janitorial regimen.

What Is the Difference Between Cleaning and Sanitizing?

The main difference between cleaning and sanitizing is that cleaning is the act of clearing debris and deposits on a surface, while sanitizing involves killing bacteria after the surface has already been cleared or wiped off.

When comparing cleaning vs sanitizing, you’ll want to make sure that cleaning happens first regardless of the surface, and that sanitizing follows depending on the area. Items that come into contact with foods and that are often touched should be sanitized, while locations like hallway floors and windows do not need to be regularly sanitized as they are considered low-risk surfaces.

Cleaning

To clean something means to remove all of the visible contaminations on the surface, including dirt, spills, food particles, dust, etc., by washing, brushing, or wiping the area. This process is surface level and does not eliminate germs but can help reduce their numbers. This is expected to be the first step in the cleansing process. Common cleaning products include:

Sanitizing

Sanitizing means to reduce the amount of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi on a surface after it has been cleaned. The sanitizer used must reduce the number of bacteria to the level that is deemed safe by the public health standards. To meet CDC requirements, sanitizing chemicals must kill 99.999% of the test bacteria in under 30 seconds.

Although sanitizing reduces the growth of harmful bacteria, it does not kill all of the viruses on a surface. Sanitizing is meant to be used as a preventative measure and is an extremely important practice in restaurants, schools, corporate offices, and hospitals. Every surface that comes into contact with food should be sanitized regularly, often several times a day.

Disinfect vs Sanitize

The difference between sanitizing and disinfecting is based on the amount of bacteria each process eliminates. While sanitizing is meant to kill the majority of germs, it cannot make antiviral claims. Disinfecting is more potent than sanitizing and can kill nearly 100% of bacteria, viruses, and fungi while targeting specific disease-carrying microorganisms like the flu virus, norovirus, and coronavirus.

Disinfecting

To disinfect means to kill specific viruses and pathogens on a surface using a disinfectant. These cleaning agents must kill 99.999% of infectious bacteria, viruses, and fungi within a 5-10minute period. It is recommended to disinfect frequently touched surfaces. Bathrooms should always be disinfected due to the pathogens those surfaces can harbor that can lead to the spread of disease. Common disinfectants include:

Difference Between Sterilizing and Disinfecting

Although the terms are used interchangeably, there are differences between disinfecting and sterilizing. Disinfecting eliminates nearly 100% of viruses and bacteria on surfaces, while sterilizing will kill all of the viruses, bacteria, fungi, and bacterial spores on an item.

While disinfecting is useful in most settings and on regularly touched surfaces, sterilizing is usually just reserved for instruments used in medical facilities and hospital settings.

Healthcare facilities are highly dependent on the sterilization of foods, medicines, and equipment to prevent infections in wounds and the spread of diseases from patient to patient. A few methods can be used to sterilize products:

  • heat
  • radiation
  • steam
  • chemicals

When comparing the different cleansing practices, the number of bacteria will decrease as you progress from cleaning to disinfecting, to finally being fully eradicated with sterilizing.

Practical information from our experience is the best tool to help you find the solution to the challenges you are facing.

Did you have any questions?

Info

All the information published on the website www.toreco.md, including the prices of the products, is informational and in no case is it a public offer, defined by the provisions of articles 681 and 805 of the Civil Code of the R.M. Nr. 1107 din 06.06.2002. For more information on stocks and the cost of products, please contact us at: +373 22 829629. Product parameters and composition are subject to change without notice.

Free Testing

We guarantee that you can rely on the experience of TORECO to alleviate all the difficulties related to: increased expenses, inefficient cleaning products, etc.We have solutions, and what remains for us to do is to identify the real problems that you are facing and give you the possibility to test our products vs other products for free.

Free Installation

We want that the installation of equipment will be an enjoyable experience for all our customers. So, we ensure the availability of our support team for free. The FREE installation service is valid only at the time of direct purchase from TORECO SRL.

Free Delivery

B2B persons: the products in stock will be delivered to the customer within 24-48 hours after placing the order. The service is free throughout the country. // B2C persons: for orders from 500 lei the delivery is free within the city of Chisinau.