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Organic load

A disinfectant applied to a dirty surface is spent on the dirt. This is why every professional protocol cleans first and disinfects second, in that order.

In detail

Organic load is the quantity of organic material — food residue, grease, soil, body fluids — present on a surface when a treatment is applied. It matters because most disinfectant chemistry is oxidising or otherwise reactive, and a reactive substance does not choose its target: it reacts with whatever it meets first, which on a soiled surface is the soil. Two separate consequences follow. The active is consumed before it reaches the organisms, so the treatment underperforms at a concentration that would otherwise work. And the soil physically shields organisms beneath it, so even unspent product does not reach them. This is the entire reason that cleaning and disinfecting are two steps rather than one, and why a product that claims to do both still requires the surface to be clean first. It also explains why organic load is a named factor in the microbiology sources: growth begins on soilants and textile auxiliaries rather than on the fibre, and mould growth accelerates where dirt has accumulated. The rule is unglamorous and reliable: remove the soil with a detergent, rinse, and only then apply anything intended to act on organisms, for the contact time its label states.

Why

Sources for this page

Sources

  1. Conserve O Gram 16/1: Causes, Detection and Prevention of Mold and Mildew on Textiles

    National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 1993 · Government or regulator

    Relied on for: That microorganisms often start growth on soilants and textile auxiliaries, and that textiles relatively free of dust and food stains are less susceptible to becoming a host. (states this directly)

    Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.

    Read on — The sections headed The Microorganisms, Factors Affecting Biological Deterioration (four numbered factors), Detection, Damage, Prevention and Environmental Control. Supports the claim as stated. Supplies the fibre-by-fibre susceptibility, the humidity and temperature thresholds, and — most usefully — the finding that growth starts on the soil rather than on the fibre, which connects the whole laundry section to the mould section.

  2. Conserve O Gram 3/4: Mold — Prevention of Growth in Museum Collections

    National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 2007 · Government or regulator

    Relied on for: That mould growth accelerates under conditions including accumulated dirt. (states this directly)

    Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.

    Read on — The sections headed The Microorganisms, Health Hazards, Susceptible Materials, Damage, Detection and Prevention. Supports the claim as stated. Establishes the microbiology layer's central distinction — deactivating, killing and removing are three different outcomes — with a federal agency behind it. Also supplies the accumulated-dirt link that makes routine cleaning a mould measure rather than a cosmetic one.

  3. Kitchen Hygiene: Let's Talk About That Sponge!

    Clemson University Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center · Credible secondary source

    Relied on for: That published methods are presented as ways to clean an item rather than as eliminating bacteria. (background and mechanism only)

    Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.

    Read on — The list of methods for cleaning a traditional cellulose sponge, and the replacement advice. Supports a narrower statement — our claim was reduced. CleaningHQ had expected a source of this kind to say that microwaving disinfects a sponge, because that is how the practice is described everywhere else. It does not. The catalogue therefore records the methods with the modest claim the source actually makes — cleaning, and helping prevent spread — and treats sponge disinfection as not established rather than as supported.

Last reviewed by a person on .

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