As commercial cleaning businesses get good quality weekly cleaning, commercial cleaning companies have to work hard behind the scenes to deliver that good quality cleaning. This includes making sure that the products that they use are good quality and will work effectively. One of the most common problems of a commercial cleaning company is the struggle to keep their cleaning supplies sanitary. Recent news on the matter also might cause even more issues for commercial cleaners and their cleaning products. According to a study done by a German lab, sponges are full of bacteria.
According to the study, “Due to continuous mutual interactions, the [built environment] microbiome is suspected to have a significant impact on the health and well-being of the human occupants, which probably goes beyond classical infectious diseases, such as food-borne illnesses. However, the details are far from being fully understood.” This means that, as most people know, we are surrounded by bacteria at all moments in time. As the study continues, however, we can see how exactly having a dirty sponge can affect human health.
Although the bacteria found on an average kitchen sponge was not known to be harmful to people, problems started to arise with particular sponges. Sponges that have been used to clean potentially harmful surfaces can then transfer the bacteria across a kitchen. For example, if a commercial cleaner does not use a strong disinfectant on a commercial kitchen countertop that has come into contact with raw chicken, the sponge they use to clean the countertop can spread salmonella across the rest of the commercial kitchen.
The researchers stated that sponges with colonies of harmful bacteria cannot be cleaned. After boiling and disinfecting the sponges, they still held the same amount of bacteria as before. “They’re a latticework for fibers,” stated one of the researchers. “It’s too easy for bacteria to hide in the crevices.”
One of the best things commercial cleaners can do to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria in their cleaning routine is to not use sponges at all. Cleaners should primarily use microfiber cloths and scrub brushes as these can be properly sanitized.