Hour_Significance817 t1_itxmzof wrote on October 27, 2022 at 1:25 AM

Regarding the recent recall of several cleaning products from Clorox (specifically Pine Sol) where some products may have been tainted with bacteria (including pseudomonas), how is this possible? The active ingredients in the cleaners include ethoxylated alcohols, sodium lauryl sulfate, sulfonic acid, and other nonionic and ionic surfactants that should be bacteriostatic if not antibacterial (or even downright cytotoxic). Is this recall just out of an abundance of caution, or are there really legitimate concerns based on science and medicine where the recall is warranted?

Indemnity4 t1_iu34yub wrote on October 28, 2022 at 5:10 AM

> The recall includes the following products: Pine-Sol Scented Multi-Surface Cleaners, in Lavender Clean, Sparkling Wave and Lemon Fresh scents; CloroxPro Pine-Sol All Purpose Cleaners, in Lavender Clean, Sparkling Wave, Lemon Fresh and Orange Energy scents; and Clorox Professional Pine-Sol Lemon Fresh Cleaners.

Microbes like to eat soaps too.

The multisurface cleaners are mostly water, oils and surfactants. They are not antimicrobial.

Most of the chemicals you listed are very poor antimicrobials, IMHO they are not antimicrobial at all. They mostly work simply by being surfactants that (1) dissolve a fatty outer layer and wash off the bacteria from a surface or (2) maybe if you get lucky they lyse a really narrow class of microbes, usually just e-coli and salmonella bacteria.

Typically these products include a teeny tiny trace amount of water-based anti-microbial chemicals to keep the product shelf stable. For instance, benzyl alcohol or MIT/CIT.

It can easily be that the factory was using contaminated water and the amount of microbes exceeded the control of the antimicrobials. They factory may have had a blocked nozzle and the products either did not get enough or any antimicrobials. A worker may have messed up and put the incorrect chemical in the processing line.

Since the claim the bacteria of concern is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, IMHO that implies their factory was using ground water that became contaminated. The factory water treatment facility got contaminated or was passing, which contaminated their bottle filling equipment. In my own work history I have seen a sand filter positioned after a water treatment facility get contaminated, and nobody checked because it was not expected to ever see dirty water in the first place, so it was only noticed when during a routine stoppage and restart, the first flush of water smelled bad.