Dishwashers Making People Sick?

[Chetlaham]

Came across this in my feed about how bacteria builds up in dishwashers making people sick. Obviously its an add to get people to buy dishwasher cleaner. That aside I'm wondering how truthful their claims are and how much they reflect the real world. Unbiased unfiltered opinions welcome.

5 Ways Your Dishwasher is Making You Feel Unwell | Fuugu

fuugu-official.com

 

[ozzie908]

Never been an issue

and I have lived off machine cleaned dishes well over 50 years.

 

[combo52]

We see a lot of gross dishwashers in the field

Don’t know whether they make people sick or not, but they certainly could, many people don’t use their dishwasher properly or their washing machines for that matter. This has been discussed at length here.

To use a dishwasher properly you need to use the normal or heavy cycle always use a sufficient quantity of good detergent. No ego stuff always select the high temp washing option.

If you use a dishwasher properly, the dishes should come out sparkling always the machine should always smell clean inside and you won’t have any of the problems, detailed in the link above.

If you have really hard water, you might need to use a D lining agent in it periodically, but it’s better just to use the proper detergent in the first place for your water conditions or the worst case scenario install a water softening system for your house.

John

 

[mark_wpduet]

I add a shotglass of chlorine bleach to every load.... and the inside of my dishwasher just smells like what you would expect... that almost clean sanitized smell. There's no way anything's growing in there. I know LCB supposedly kills enzymes... but I think the fact that most the the LCB gets drained and washed away before the main wash starts... it doesn't seem to bother the detergent. And it defintiely keeps the inside of the dishwasher smelling fresh.. I've done this for a LOOONG time now... I used to not have to because most dishwasher detergents had bleach. I think a few still might... but I don't use those.

 

[Chetlaham]

I agree- you need hot water, good detergent and a heavy cycle. 

 

[gelaundry4ever]

dishwashers making people sick

I don't believe that dishwashers are making people sick. I believe there's more to this story. I bet people are using way too short cycles and a teaspoon of dishwasher detergent that doesn't cut down anything. The water doesn't get hot enough on these express cycles. My dishwasher never made me sick, because I use proper cycles. I always use the smart wash cycle.

 

[wayupnorth]

We know

 

[tolivac]

With dishwashers I have used-and hand wash dishes-I haven't gotten sick.If the dishwasher-or its being blamed-sounds like cockpit errors to me.

 

[novum]

Seems very unlikely unless everything’s being washed at low temp on short cycles in a badly loaded machine, with detergent that’s actually made out of cheese or something.

 

[william8]

Looks like an ad to me. That's not where I look for facts, or the truth.

 

[askolover]

99% of the time I use the chlorine based powder so I'm not too concerned.

 

[launderess]

"I used to not have to because most dishwasher detergents had bleach. I think a few still might..."

Professional/institutional/food service automatic dishwasher detergents still can be had loaded with chlorine bleach. One is the famous old standby Hytron:

https://www.amazon.com/Stearns-Hytron-Chlorinated-Dishwasher-Detergent/dp/B01IE03I5Q

Such dishwashers are more for sanitizing and getting things to last mile of clean when compared to domestic units. Besides providing sanitation chlorine bleach breaks down protein which would include soils such as egg and milk on dishes or glassware.

There is also by local health codes places that serve food to public must either use chemical or thermal sanitation for dish and glass ware washed by machine.

P&G along with rest largely phased out domestic dw detergents with chlorine bleach in favour of using enzymes. There were also some complaints from housewives or others using domestic dishwashers about smell of chlorine wafting though kitchens.

IIRC old some old Electrasol dw detergents (gel formula?) still contained chlorine bleach.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Largely true, though exaggerated.

New dishwasher main wash and final rinse temps are too low. Most people run the Normal cycle and largely scrape and rinses dishes to the point that the sensor machines won’t run a more aggressive cycle. As others have said, no more chlorine bleach in detergent, as well as phosphates certainly aren’t helping the situation. While enzymes and activated sodium percarbonate help, they aren’t as strong as the products they replaced. The new machines also use less water per fill which means more concentrated pathogen count per unit of water used. So, yes the ad is correct, but I don’t feel that it is as big of an issue as they are portraying. I have come across machines that have been absolutely caked with junk, but no complaints of illness from what I recall. In fact, our house was previously owned by a family practice MD, and she left the dishwasher and refrigerator quite dirty. Didn’t seem to be an issue for her.

 

[johnb300m]

Normal wash final rinse temps are still 135-140F.
Main wash temps seem to be around 105-120F for enzyme action.
Quick/Fast cycles in modern dishwashers use more heat to compensate for the rapid cycle.

People in general are just dirty.

 

[appnut]

Aside from everything else mentioned, probably not purge cold water out of the line before starting cycle and compound that with a 60 minute cycle, that makes it even worse.