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Q. I have a three-year-old and am expecting a new baby in a few weeks. I hate to use harsh chemicals to clean our house, and usually rely on good old soap and hot water, sometimes with vinegar or baking soda. I use bleach or Bon-Ami sparingly for some things. I found a recipe for home cleaner spray--a simple mixture of white vinegar, water and a few drops of essential oil for fragrance. I spray this mixture everywhere, confident that I could eat it if I had to. It does a great job on the stainless kitchen sink, microwave, countertops and bathroom sink.
I'm under the impression that vinegar will be enough to kill germs, especially bacteria. Is that true? Do I need to add something more caustic to get the germs?
A. Vinegar is a great cleaner, but we didn’t know how well it could kill germs. We asked germ guru Charles Gerba, PhD, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He has done field studies on household germs.
Dr. Gerba said that vinegar is useful as a cleaner and has some antimicrobial properties, but it is not considered a sanitizer or disinfectant. For disinfecting, dilute bleach is still best.
What about peroxide? Will this disinfect better than vinegar?
Food scientist Susan Sumner at Virginia Tech has found that spraying surfaces with vinegar, then hydrogen peroxide or vice versa (not mixed together in one bottle!) is very effective.
Tests run at V.Tech,indicated that bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces were killed when the two components were sprayed on surfaces. See www.michaelandjudystouffer.com/judy/articles/vinegar.htm
Vinegar is not considered by the EPA to be a disinfectant, and I am glad to see that you are providing that information. Bleach is a disinfectant, if sprayed on a hard, non-porous surface, and then left for the requisite amount of time (the "kill time"). Nonetheless, vinegar can be a great cleaner -- just not a disinfectant.