ATTENTION TO DETAIL
Start with the Cart.
We love carts. So convenient for shopping. In fact, they are second nature. Grocers and other big box retailers rely on carts. In 2007, when studies confirmed that they were, in fact, germ fests, we hardly batted an eye. Some chains talked about enhanced cleaning at night, and provided hand sanitizer and wipes, but in the age of Covid, that’s like taking off your shoes in the airport – makes you feel safer, but really doesn’t stop the real threat.
With the threat of the Delta, Omicron and other variants being more transmissible, with viral loads 1000x the original Covid, and sporting a unique mutation for rapid reproduction, frequency and efficacy of disinfecting protocols can make a big impact, especially in public spaces with a lot of foot traffic, like supermarkets and grocers, etc.
that may be unable to mandate precautions. 1 out of every 7 US adults is grocery shopping at any given time during the day. One cart may change hands a hundred times at a given location during a single day. Carts are a tiny but crucial part of the Covid hygiene picture.
CDC recommends daily cleaning of carts and facilities, except in areas of high transmissibility (which is everywhere now, due to the Omicron variants) or if an employee gets a test done and it comes back positive. You may think daily cart cleaning means they are being disinfected but it doesn’t. Big grocers hire services to disinfect carts professionally a few times a year at best. Some leave it up to individual store managers, who simply don’t have the resources or staff, and leave it up to the customer to “sterilize” with wipes when they use it.
To be efficacious, the low-level sanitizer in those wipes must be allowed to dwell on the surface – and remain wet during the dwell time – for anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes in most cases. And, the active ingredient better be good at cutting through biofilm created from body oils, lotions, food residue, and nasties from that nose-picking kid or his ear-picking grandpa. You also need to wipe in a single direction, not back and forth.
DoxyKlor is a reagent-grade hospital-use disinfectant that works faster than alcohol, is safer than quats, and is more efficacious than bleach. DoxyKlor safely sanitizes all food contact surfaces, and air dries, leaving no harmful residue. (The active ingredient in DoxyKlor has been used in the US and EU to disinfect municipal drinking and waste waters, retard pathogens on raw produce, and disinfect biosafety cabinets) DoxyKlor is a 0.05% solution used to safely, but thoroughly sanitize classrooms, daycare centers, and retirement communities. Gentle, buffered DoxyKlor biodegradable, has no VOC.
This is important, as several stores in North America have faced bad press and lawsuits during the pandemic over chemical burns of toddler skin seated in carts contaminated by harmful residuals from other disinfectant products that were incompletely rinsed. DoxyKlor’s no-rinse formula kills Covid on high touch areas in mere seconds, disrupting and destroying microbial biofilm and the pathogens that lurk therein. Mild but potent DoxyKlor makes cart handles hygienic enough for teething toddlers.
Using DoxyKlor in an atomizing sprayer allows grocers and other cart-based retail shops to realize true enhanced surface hygiene in seconds, so they can better protect patrons and employees. The makers of this promising new EPA approved product are currently ramping up production as distributors finalize negotiations with major grocery chains and retailers who hope to upgrade effectiveness, safety and efficiency disinfecting high-upkeep areas (such as slicers, glass doors, refrigeration units, produce bins and conveyors) throughout their facilities. From membranes to boot baths, shower drains to potable water tanks, DoxyKlor does more.