Hygiene-critical wipers
April 1st 2008

What kind of wipers are required in hygiene-critical environments such as a food factories and hospitals to help prevent issues such as cross-infection and food contamination? Mark Riley from SCA Tissue Europe finds out

Disposable wipers are usually associated with heavy industry and are generally used for cleaning away oil, grease and dirt from surfaces or the hands. But in industries such as food and healthcare, the type of soiling that needs to be removed is potentially lethal.Where pathogens are present, the need to avoid crosscontamination is a major factor when choosing a wiper.

Colour-coding is a simple yet highly effective method of avoiding cross contamination in hygiene-critical areas.When different coloured buckets and cloths are used for specific tasks, staff training becomes very simple. Staff quickly come to associate the correct colour cloth with the appropriate task and adhering to a strict regime becomes second nature.

Tork has just launched Tork Premium Specialist colour-coded cloths in red, blue, green and yellow. These come in compact packs that can be conveniently stored or transported on a cleaning trolley.

Traditional wiping products in the food industry include dishcloths and sponges which tend to be reused again and again. Research carried out in the US has revealed that an average-sized kitchen sponge contains more than seven billion bacteria. In a large catering kitchen or food plant where there may be many such sponges or cloths, the numbers of bacteria present is potentially huge.

The types of pathogen that may be found on a typical dishcloth include Salmonella, Campylobacter and E.coli O157 which can subsist on protein particles such as meat, eggs and milk. Research indicates that boiling dishcloths for several minutes will effectively kill the bugs, but this uses time and energy and needs to be repeated at frequent intervals to avoid a new build-up of pathogens.

SCA claims that the ideal food industry wiper, therefore, is one that is thrown away after use.

UK food manufacturers favour blue wipers since few foods are blue in colour and the risk of losing a blue wiper among food ingredients is slim.Disposable wipers such as Tork Advanced Blue are a good solution because this uses a semi-automatic system to dispense the tissue in individual sheets, ensuring that each wiper is touched only by the user.

Tork Advanced Blue is designed to double as a hand drying and surface wiping disposable, which makes it doubly convenient.The towel consists of one ply tissue and one ply TAD material which makes it strong enough for surface wiping while also being sufficiently soft for hand drying.

When working with disinfectants and detergents or cleaning up fatty spills, a heavy-duty food wiper is required.Non-woven Tork Premium 530 Blue is particularly suitable since it is tough enough to be used as a dishcloth and highly absorbent with liquids such as water, detergents, solvents and disinfectants.

Where lighter wiping applications are carried out at frequent intervals, a general-purpose blue wiper is a good option. For highcapacity use in the food industry we offer two-ply Tork Advanced 420 and one-ply Tork Advanced 415.These centrefeed wipers are housed in a hygienic dispenser that is tightly sealed to prevent product contamination and has no sharp corners where dirt can collect.

Disposable wipers are also ideal for healthcare environments where cross-contamination must be avoided if the number of hospital-acquired infections in to be reduced.

A new Tork system allows healthcare staff safe access to premoistened wipers for cleaning or disinfectant.The system comprises a roll of Tork Premium Precision Cleaning cloths in the portable Handy Bucket, to which four litres of detergent or disinfectant is added.The bucket is then resealed and the moistened wipers are ready for use.

Tork Premium Precision Cleaning cloths are particularly suitable for medical instruments since they are very low linting.The "closed" Handy Bucket system also avoids the health and safety risks of carrying open buckets of disinfectant around a healthcare establishment.

For general wiping applications,many hospitals use the Tork Hygiene Roll which comes in 25cm and 50cm widths. The wider version is generally used as a couch roll while the 25cm version is used for a range of tasks such as hand wiping and mopping up spills.

Tork Hygiene Roll is available in both in blue and white so that each colour can be used for different tasks.

As food poisoning cases and hospital-acquired infections continue to hit the headlines, regulations are tightening up in hygiene-critical areas. It is no longer sufficient for food and healthcare staff to use good hygiene practices – they must also be seen to be doing so.

Using clean, hygienic disposables and colour-coded cloths will dramatically improve cleaning regimes while inspiring confidence in the people who matter - whether they are visitors, customers, staff or patients. For further details, call the number on the right.

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