Why Industrial Hand Soap Doesn’t Work Best for Food Safety

In the early days of Meritech, we knew that we couldn’t rely on traditional hand soap while we reinvented the hand hygiene process so that it could be the best it could be with CleanTech^® Automated Handwashing Stations. There are too many variables involved in using industrial hand soap such as amount needed, type used, and the effect that certain soaps can have on skin health when used frequently. We needed something better that could reduce the highest number of pathogens in the shortest amount of time while ensuring the skin health of food industry employees. Enter Ultrapure. 

How is UltraPure better than soap for skin health for food industry workers?

UltraPure is not just regular soap, it is a proprietary hygiene solution designed to work with our CleanTech^® Automated Handwashing Systems to meet the areas where traditional liquid hand soap falls short. Some soaps used in the food industry can contain certain dyes and fragrances that can have skin damaging effects. UltraPure was developed without things like triclosan so that handwashing can be done with a CleanTech^® system without any negative impacts to employee skin health.

Learn more about UltraPure Here

How can we prove the efficacy of UltraPure?

Over 50 Clinical studies have shown that hands achieved optimal pathogen reduction when using UltraPure with CleanTech^® automated handwashing systems. We have tested against both transient and resident pathogens, bacteria, and even viruses. The results were at least a mean reduction of 99.9% for the pathogens used. 

According to the ASTM standard for healthcare workers, a proper manual hand wash and rinse procedure is conducted by washing in a vigorous manner for 30 seconds over every surface of the hands and lower third portion of the forearms. This is followed by a full 30 second rinse under tap water.

With this in mind, compare this to the results of our study. We found that the CleanTech^® ELF system when using 5ml of detergent hand soap achieved equivalent removal of bacteria from the hands using one 15-second total wash and rinse cycle when compared to the full 60-second manual hand wash and rinse with detergent hand soap. The normal CleanTech^® hand wash is 12 seconds; however, 15 seconds was used as the time in this study due to the fact that it was conducted in partnership with a company in the healthcare industry and adhered to their hygiene standards.

UltraPure was not used in this case to prove the efficacy of the mechanics of the CleanTech^® hand wash outside of the chemistry. We proved that when using the incorrect chemical solution, the pathogen reduction (while still better than a manual hand wash) is not as effective as when used with our UltraPure hand hygiene solution. 

Download all of our UltraPure efficacy studies here

How does UltraPure work with CleanTech®?

When using UltraPure with CleanTech^® each hand wash is done exactly the same, every time. All of those variables involved with using traditional industrial hand soap disappear. As a result, UltraPure proprietary hygiene solution has been proven to outperform soap for hand hygiene efficacy by working seamlessly with the CleanTech^® handwashing stations. It was an ambitious goal, but after extensive clinical testing we perfected our unique antimicrobial solution to consistently remove more than 99.9% of pathogens when used with the CleanTech^® handwashing system.

Learn more about CleanTech^® Automated Handwashing Stations here