Rotating Sanitizers - can they both be QUAT Sanitizers?
Hi,
We planning for a temporary sanitizer rotation to help prevent any microbial resistance from building up. We are currently using quat sanitizer.
I reached out to our chemical supplier for suggestions, and they recommended using a different quat sanitizer that they carry. It is marketed as a "Disinfectant, Sanitizer, and Cleaner" while our current is just a "Sanitizer". They stated "both sanitizers have a different chemical make up, so that will take care of any resistant bacteria".
Would this option be an effective solution? It would help simplify things because the dilution ratios are the same, so we wouldn't need to recalibrate our dispensers. However, I'm wondering if the different chemical make up is primary due to the additional "disinfectant" and "cleaner" functionalities, and not necessarily something that would limit bacterial resistance.
Info from each SDS is listed below.
Current Sanitizer:
Quaternary Ammonium Chlorides
CAS Numbers:
68424-85-1
Possible Rotation Option:
Sodium Carbonate
CAS Number: 497-19-8
n-Alkyl (68% C12, 32% C14) Dimethyl Ethylbenzyl Ammonium Chlorides
Ask your chemical supplier what the active ingredients are in each sanitizer.
Then ask how those active ingredients interact with your pathogens of concern for your product, and how they go about deactivating or destroying the pathogens, and how those differ from one another.
Someone in their microbiology dept. should be able to answer these questions to your semi-layperson's satisfactory understanding, or they can do the research and get back to you with the answers in a reasonable amount of time.
As a colleague once told me, you pay that chemical supplier a lot of money to know these answers and to explain them to you. If they cannot, it may be time to shop for another supplier who can!
I'm not sure switching from one set of quaternary ammonia compounds to another set really gets at the principle behind the rotation.
When you say temporary rotation, what kind of time frame or frequency of change did you intend?
I'm not sure switching from one set of quaternary ammonia compounds to another set really gets at the principle behind the rotation.
When you say temporary rotation, what kind of time frame or frequency of change did you intend?
That's why I was mentioning about the action of the active ingredients. If they both use similar ammonia compounds that act upon the pathogens in the same way but with different chemicals, that will not suffice.
In some programs I have set up, I used a completely different type sanitizer (acid-type sanitizer) for only a week before coming back to the quats, and that seemed to be long enough to disrupt the possible pathogen resistance. This was easy enough to do because it was a smaller company, so the sanitation crew was easy to inform and train on the different dilution and chemical handling.
Thank you both for your input.
I was under the impression that it would need to be a different type as well; that's what prompted me to seek advice here. I'll look further into the active ingredients and see where that leads me. I've heard others who have done the switch for 1 week as well.
"You pay that chemical supplier a lot of money to know these answers and to explain them to you. If they cannot, it may be time to shop for another supplier who can!"
George, this is great advice!!
Can you please provide information on Oxysan sanitizer for trainings.
Can you please provide information on Oxysan sanitizer for trainings.
Again, this is info that your chem supplier should have available for you. Contact your rep.
Also, many chem suppliers will hold training sessions for your sanitation crew at no charge, and most even already have training documentation forms, exam forms and training videos they can bring along and you can keep copies of for your documentation records. Just call your rep to schedule an appointment and set it up with your sanitation crews. They will come back multiple days if you have different shift crews, and will do this annually. If they do not have forms, you can easily make an attendance sign in sheet and keep copies of the training info given on file.