Interesting research article for detergent geeks

[eriksp]

This is an interesting article on the topic of low temperature washing and hygiene. In particular, what difference a detergent with activated oxygen bleach makes in terms of sanitizing. For us in Europe, that would generally mean a detergent for whites with sodium percarbonate and TAED. It turns out, with a few exceptions for individual microbes, that you CAN sanitize laundry quite well (though of course not to hospital standards) with a low temperature wash if you use an AOB detergent and an extended mainwash time. What came as a surprise for me was that this held true even for washes below 40 degrees, which has generally been communicated to be the lower limit for TAED activation of the peracetic acid (the bleaching agent). Even at a 20 degree wash, there was significant sanitizing activity performed by the AOB detergent compared to an AOB-free detergent. The more you know!

https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jam.12647

 

[rolls_rapide]

I surmised as much: you get a more hygienic and cleaner wash with a bleach-containing powder than not - even with low temperatures. The downside is coloured items will probably fade that bit quicker.

However, you could use a non-bleach detergent (powder or liquid) for some of the time on coloureds, and use the bleach detergent occasionally. Particularly if you encounter problematic odours from garments, or stains.