Laundry risk categories
The question people ask about towels and bedding is how often. The scientific body that reviewed domestic laundering answers a different one, and says why: what the item was used for governs more than how many days have passed.
In detail
There is no authoritative interval for washing towels, tea towels or bed linen, and that is a finding rather than a gap. A home-hygiene body's review of 29 studies publishes RISK CATEGORIES instead, because what decides whether a wash needs to be hot is what the item has touched. HIGHER-RISK ITEMS go at 60C OR ABOVE with an oxygen bleach product. The class is defined by exposure, not by fabric: kitchen cloths and towels used during food preparation, anything heavily soiled with body fluids, reusable nappies, high-contact sports clothing, pet fabrics, and the clothing of health, food and care workers. Anything moves into this class while someone at home is infected or vulnerable. LOWER-RISK ITEMS — towels, bed linen, face cloths, underclothing — go at 30-40C, still with an oxygen bleach-based product. Outer clothing and soft furnishings are fine at 30C without one. SEGREGATION IS A SEPARATE INSTRUCTION AND THE ONE MOST OFTEN MISSED. At 30-40C the wash may not stop pathogens transferring BETWEEN items in a load, so tea towels are washed separately. Two cautions travel with it: many machines do not reach the temperature on the dial, and the review had detergent-industry support.
Sources for this page
Sources
Effectiveness of laundering processes used in domestic (home) settings
International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene, 2013 · Scientific literature
Relied on for: That it publishes risk categories rather than laundering intervals; that higher-risk items including kitchen cloths go at 60C or above with an oxygen bleach-based product; that towels, bed linen and underclothing sit in the 30-40C class; that 30-40C may not prevent transfer between items in a load, so tea towels are washed separately; and that many machines do not reach their stated temperature. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Read to the end in Sprint 34. The Summary (pp. 5-6) and Appendix 1, 'Guidance on machine laundering of clothing and household linens in the home setting', with its endnotes (pp. 52-57), read in Sprint 31; the evidence review, sections 5 to 12 (pp. 7-51), read in Sprint 34. Supports the claim as stated. Sprint 31 took the guidance and left the evidence behind it unread; Sprint 34 read the rest and the guidance survived it, which is the useful outcome. Three things are now sourced rather than asserted: that an oxygen bleach product, not the dial, is what prevents transfer between items in a cool wash; that soiling degrades the wash enough to reverse it; and that machines miss their set temperature by up to 14C. It still publishes NO frequency, so the towel and tea-towel rows stay partial for the same reason as before.
Last reviewed by a person on .