The dirty truth about laundry bar solution

It is said that Filipino mothers know best.

They are known to have some of the world’s cleanest practices in running their households. As a mom to a brood of four, I can relate.

Ensure that our kids take a bath everyday and shower before going to bed? Check!

Encourage our children to brush their teeth three times a day? Double check!

Hand wash clothes so that they are stain-free and smelling fresh for family members to use? Yes. Handwash is preferred because then I know that our garments are thoroughly cleaned and it is also one way of taking care of our delicates.

But one thing is certain, the Pinoy mom is budget-conscious – sometimes to a fault.Take for example our habit of using leftover laundry soap to wash our dirty dishes. We think in this process we are saving up, but unknown to us, the experts warn against the horrors behind this practice.

In a recent forum, Dr. Supachai Basit, president of the Philippine Society of Microbiology, showed in a Powerpoint presentation the dangers posed to health by the prevalent use of laundry bar solution for the kitchen:

A study reveals that ten out of ten Filipino households who use bar solution consisting of used laundry soap, water and a sponge clean their plates with bar solution dirtier than a toilet seat cover.

This data was obtained from a study conducted by a third party agency and an expert from the Philippine Society for Microbiology among 150 households who use bar solution. Using a luminometer or germ meter, the PSM found that all of the bar solutions have higher level of contaminants compared to toilet seat covers.

The luminometer or germ meter is a device used by microbiologists to measure the levels of contaminants found in objects. This is done by swabbing on item’s surface with a chemical reagent (Luciferase/Luciferin), which causes a bioluminescent reaction that can be measured in Relative Light Units (RLU). The generated number of light emitted is directly proportional to the level of contaminants found in the object.

In this study, the germ meter’s reading was at 504 RLU for the toilet seat cover. The bar solutions, on the other hand, registered an alarming average of 6,921 RLU – 13 times higher than the toilet seat cover! With this result, mothers are better off preparing their family’s meals on top of their toilets’ seat covers than on plates washed with a bar solution.

Commissioned by Joy Anti-bac with the Power of Safeguard and verified by the Philippine Society for Microbiology, this study aims to prompt mothers to reassess their current kitchen sanitation practices.

“Every time a sponge is used it absorbs almost any particle or liquid it comes in contact with including germs from dishwashing. Likewise, the laundry bar that was once used to wash our dirty clothes also tends to collect dirt and particle especially when left in a moist container and exposed to open air. Together, these two become breeding grounds for contaminants,” explains Dr.Basit.

“Mothers think that they are saving money by using their leftover laundry soap in dishwashing,” shares Jan Jizelle Ang, Brand Manager for Joy. “However, this study proves that the use of bar solution is both uneconomic and unhygienic. We hope that mothers wake up from the dirty truth about their bar solution.”

Joy recently launched a new variant, Joy Anti-bac now with the Power of Safeguard that mothers can trust. It not only cuts through grease, it also provides 99.9% germ protection so moms can stop cleaning with germs and keep their family protected.