Probiotic Cleaning Products - Science
Probiotic Cleaning products. A report from the KIT Karlsruhe by Professor Johannes Gerscher. I will not include my own thoughts about that and strictly keep the approach scientific.
The original link here, although in German, I tried to translate it in the best possible way, although slight mistakes might have occured.
https://www.sek.kit.edu/kit_express_4428.php
The hours of sun are increasing, the temperatures are rising - and spring cleaning is on the cards. Bacteria-based products are currently becoming fashionable: the probiotic cleaners contained “friendly” microorganisms that naturally remove dirt, dust and harmful bacteria, the manufacturers promise. In this way, even stubborn dirt is removed efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have taken a close look at the micro household and cleaning aids.
The cleaning effect of probiotic cleaners is based on the concept that substances such as fats, proteins, carbohydrates or ureas, which make up the majority of the dirt in our kitchens, bathrooms and toilets, serve as food for microorganisms. In order to be able to absorb them, bacteria form enzymes that break down the dirt particles. However, Professor Johannes Gescher from the KIT Institute for Applied Biosciences believes that the idea that bacteria can be sprayed on a surface and it becomes clean as a result is not very convincing. Microorganisms are able to eat organic carbon, as happens, for example, in wastewater treatment plants, where bacteria are used to purify waste water. But: "Everything that bacteria eat, they convert into CO 2 and new biomass," says the expert in applied biology. In other words, where bacteria find food, there are more bacteria very quickly, which in turn could possibly leave excretions. “This means that bacteria are less suitable for cleaning surfaces from organic carbon in such a way that one could actually speak of cleanliness afterwards,” says Gescher.
The researcher examined some cleaners in the laboratory: some of them contained one to two billion cells per milliliter. In addition, the probiotic all-purpose cleaners contained a mixture of acids, some of which the consumer knows well: acetic acid is a component of many cleaning agents and was found in diluted form. In addition, the cleaners tested contained alcohol, butyric acid and propionic acid, which explains the characteristic smell of the cleaners. "This leads to the suspicion that the cleaning performance is provided by the additives and not the microorganisms," says Gescher and advises: "If you want to clean in an environmentally friendly manner, you should use quickly degradable cleaning agents."
The scientist is not convinced that “good” bacteria can drive away unwanted ones. “Most microorganisms live in biofilms, a layer of mucus in which they are embedded. They have adapted to the surfaces and conditions on and with which they grow. Microorganisms in a cleaner are barely able to displace the natural film on a surface. ” Such biofilms could be removed primarily by mechanical or chemical means that environmentally conscious users wanted to avoid. In addition, bacteria are active in a moist environment. "If you wipe, the floor may be damp for ten minutes," says Gescher. Far too little time for the microorganisms to eat anything.
After all, the frequently advertised photosynthetic and lactic acid bacteria are extremely unsuitable as cleaning aids: cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, use sunlight as an energy source, such as trees and grasses. "So, to put it loosely, they feed on light and air and cannot be involved in the desired cleaning performance at all," says Gescher. Lactic acid bacteria, on the other hand, ingest organic carbon and produce lactic acid - as in the manufacture of yoghurt. “But they only do that if they don't have access to oxygen. Here, too, you have to ask how cleaning should be done if you spread these organisms on a surface. "
Lastely another view towards this from a Stanford Professor, this is not specificly towards cleaning, but generally towards Probiotics and also from 2019
https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2019/08/28/do-probiotics-live-up-to-the-hype-part-i/
To end this I was seeing a product in 2019 on a trade show and it promoted beeing purely probiotic and enzymatic building a foam in the application, so I ask the manufacturer how he creates the foam ? After digging deeper into it he confirmed that they used tensides / surfactants in the product, so the story started to turn around.
I can always only advise, look how this products are really set up and what is inside to do the cleaning job !
Thank you for yout time of reading and sharing this.