When did enzymes appear in dishwasher detergents?

[Marky_Mark]

Just wondering when enzymes first appeared and then became commonplace in dishwasher detergents in North America, Europe and around the world.

 

It seems like the shift towards enzymatic detergents has been completed in Europe, where I think all domestic dishwasher detergents contain them now.  Liquids often had chlorine bleach, but when phosphates ware taken out in 2017, they were reformulated to enzyme detergents.  Commercial-style detergents often still have phosphates and chlorine, such as Finish Professional powder, which is the same as Cascade Fryer Boil Out.

 

In the US most liquids still have chlorine, although newer enzyme ones are increasingly being sold alongside them.  Phosphates bit the dust in 2010.  Most powders and I think all pacs/tablets contain enzymes.  I remember a few years ago Cascade Complete powder was enzyme based, but regular Cascade Powder and Finish powder both had chlorine.  But now they have gone over to enzymes too.  What was the situation in the 90s, the 80s and before?

 

[ultralux88]

Didn’t Kitchenaid offer an enzyme detergent for the soak cycle when they added that back in the 70s?

I’ll be honest, especially in soft water enzymes seem to work excellently in laundry, but I haven’t been all that impressed with what modern dishwasher detergents do.

 

[mrboilwash]

IIRC Unilever`s Sun was the first DW powder with enzymes. Don`t remember exactly when but am pretty sure it was in the very early 1990`s. Most other brands including store brands followed the new trend soon.

Had to buy DW detergent during my first visit in the US in 1997 and I was amazed that there were no tabs and everything still seemed to be chlorine based. Maybe I just didn`t look hard enough but I think they were very late to the party.

 

[jamiel]

Colgate-Palmolive was the first with enzymes, in my recollection--they had a compact Palmolive powder in the mid 90s (in a half-size box with a half-size pour spout). Worked well in Chicago--perhaps it was in test-market there, but I liked it and used it. I think it came after their liquid dishwasher detergent which was late 80s.

 

[iej]

Problems with modern detergent?!

Perhaps the formulations are different but I use various dishwasher tablets here in Ireland without any issues at all. They’re all enzyme based and phosphate free. The only thing I would say is that the better brands tend to do a better job on preventing plastics from absorbing the pigment from tomatoes, pepper and so on.

They are the only thing that tends to cause issues. That does not seem to be related to bleach, rather it’s about more advanced components in the detergent and the use of better cocktails or enzymes. Better detergents also tend to easily deal with dried on food.

It’s also very obvious that egg is removed effectively by the enzymes in more expensive detergents.

I remember older formula detergents when I was a kid and they tended to do a lot of damage to dishes compared to modern ones. I haven’t seen a plate or cup pattern fade in a dishwasher in many years or glasses etch and that used to be a serious issue with some of the old formulas that often used sodium hypochlorite.

I don’t remember tablet based detergents containing chlorine here but the old powders and liquids definitely did and were generally very rough on dishes.

By and large I get absolutely flawless results from any decent detergent I use in the machine and I really don’t think the performance has degraded. If anything the dishes are far more likely to come out glistening and seem to remain in perfect condition for years.

The only way time I’ve had bad performance has been from either budget brand or plant based eco detergents.

Incidentally, Henkel’s handwash dish detergent, Pril (which isn’t sold here) now also uses enzymes.

 

[brisnat81]

Damage to dishes

Hi James,

I agree with you regarding damage, except on one point. Aluminium didnt seem to be as affected by Chlorine based detergents compared to modern ones. My grandmother would put Aluminium Saucepans and electric frypans in the dishwasher and never got a build up of black oxide. At some point around the time the chlorine dissappeared the Black oxide started to form. She'd been washing the same pots and pans in the dishwasher for 15 years before she had to stop and handwash.

Cheers

Nathan

 

[iej]

I tend not to use any aluminium cookware so I can’t really comment on that but I definitely remember cup patterns fading and even glaze becoming worn with 80s era detergents. They were also far, far harsher on glass: in general my glasses come out perfect and last years these days. Whereas I definitely remember glasses etching with old detergents and we wouldn’t have been using anything particularly unusual or cheap. I was all either Finish, Sun or Fairy.

I can remember dishes and cups where the designs had washed away almost entirely, which is something I haven’t seen in many years with modern formulas.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Really interesting information there, guys!  I'd be interested to know when Finish introduced enzymes in the UK.  

 

It's an interesting point about older powders being hasher on dishes and causing patterns to fade and glasses to etch.  It would be logical to assume it was the presence of chlorine causing the patterns to fade.  However what I've read would indicate it may have been the strong alkalinity or the presence of sodium metasilicate or something.  In fact, the manufactures of fine china, such as Royal Doulton and Wedgwood, have a list of approved detergents.  It's a couple of years out of date now that European detergents have changed, but for the UK they recommended Co-op Liquid Gel, Finish Liquid, M&S Liquid, Morrisons Liquid, Sainsbury's Liquid and Waitrose Liquid.  For the USA they recommend Cascade Gel, Finish Gel and Palmolive Liquid.  All of those contain chlorine.  I've seen a few different sources recommending that a liquid be used in order to be more gentle to fine china.

 

I experienced fading and etching in the 90s and we used Finish powder, occasionally Sun powder and also a cheap powder called "Shine" by McBride.  I was filling the dispenser completely full in fairly soft water (we didn't add salt to the dishwasher's softener).  I guess maybe it wouldn't have happened with a modern detergent!

 

[rolls_rapide]

Finish Ultra

One of the first was Beckiser's 'Finish Ultra' (not to be confused with the slightly later 'Finish Ultra Plus' - which was a concentrated chlorine formulation).

Lever had 'Sun Micro' powder, which was a white powder with coloured specks.

Procter & Gamble had 'Fairy Glazeguard' powder. This was clear, glassy type granules.

Time period, certainly late Eighties.

I also remember another Finish advert, where the adult 'son' put a china plate into the dishwasher, causing consternation to the older 'mother'. I think that slogan was 'Brilliant cleaning starts with Finish'. And I'm pretty sure the actress playing the mum was Fiona Walker, who played 'Lady Peinforte' in Dr Who.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Fairy GlazeGuard

This advert, apparently from 1992.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Finish Tablets

Again from the 1990s.

 

[passatdoc]

2001 Bosch

My 2001 Bosch 3-series has a sticker on the inner rim of the door: "BOSCH recommends Electrasol tablets and Jet Dry rinse agent". The DW came with a few free sample Electrasol tabs, and a small starter packet of Jet-Dry. Both products now sold as Finish. So tablets in the USA pre-date 2001 at least.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Finish Ultra 1992

Here's the one with Fiona Walker, in this compilation of other ads.

Starts at 4:55



I said the late Eighties further up the thread. On the evidence, it is obviously the early Nineties.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Finish Tablets

This advert from January 1995, with Helen Lederer.

Notice that these are all-white tablets. Obviously preceded the Dual Layer blue-white ones.

Starts at 2:13

 

[rolls_rapide]

Fairy

1994, with Joanna Lumley.

I think this powder was more of a conventional white powder, as opposed to the previous clear 'glassy' granules of Fairy 'GlazeGuard'.

As an aside, I never cease to be amazed by the idiots on Youtube mislabelling things: e.g. 'Fairy washing-up liquid'. No, it is 'Fairy Dishwasher Powder'.

That'll be why it takes forever to find anything these days.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Sun Micro

This one I think, is a mid-Nineties advert.

I say that because I distinctly remember the first generation of the Sun Micro powder. Oh, and it had quite a perfumey fragrance, for a dish product.

It seemed to be in a smaller white version of the conventional standard shaped plastic powder pack, with an orange removable cap. There was a clear plastic measuring cylinder glued to the inside of the orange lid. It was a rather 'Heath Robinson' affair.

 

[DADoES]

 
Not directly related to enzymes history but this info may be of interest.

The Chemistry Behind How Dishwashers Clean

 

[launderess]

Am almost certain first enzyme DW detergent was Cascade

P&G introduced enzymes to Cascade sometime around middle 1990's if not before. This was sold in different formulas including Cascade "Pure Rinse" which have about ten boxes in my stash. By late 1990's P&G introduced Cascade Complete with campagin "skip the sink". Meaning this new Cascade was so powerful one no longer needed to pre-rinse or soak dishes.



Electrasol was still a traditional chlorine based dw detergent until BENCKISER shook things up by bringing tabs to US market. These had long been available in Europe, but by late 1990's Electasol tabs had reached American markets as well.

Benckiser would soon resurrect the Finish brand name for North American market, and begin retiring Electrasol.



https://adage.com/article/news/elec...dishwasher-detergent-tablets-u-s-market/68098

Regular Electrasol gel/liquid and IIRC powder were still chlorine based products. Even today Finish gel (Benckiser retired Electrasol brand name, and brought back Finish), is chlorine based. Have a bottle in my kitchen

In summation would say at least for American market P&G's Cascade had a slight edge on being first automatic dw detergent, but only just. Electrasol wasn't too far behind. Just that Cascade came as a powder.

Here are commercials for Cascade from 1992 and 1994; notice P&G still is promoting "sheeting action".





Now Cascade Pure Rinse and Gel from 1999:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A6s3cI3ukI
[this post was last edited: 2/23/2020-07:46]

 

[rolls_rapide]

Another of the enzyme detergents, though in tablet form, was Henkel's 'Glist'. The tag-line was "Everything glistens with Glist". Obviously it was 'Somat' by another name. But I can't seem to find the adverts.

Regarding Youtube:

I find it a thoroughly exasperating and an incredibly time-consuming process. So much so, that it is a complete waste of time. Attempting a quick search for 'Glist detergent', 'glist dishwasher', 'glist advert', and variants thereof, causes the biggest inane pile of shite to appear and not the items I actually want.

Why do Google's management allow this?