Can disinfectant wipes be used to wipe fruits? Only one type cannot!

When you are out and about, tissues can avoid 80% of embarrassment: whether you are in a hurry or sneezing, eating instant noodles or your glasses are fogged up, tissues can be used to solve the problem.

However, with so many types of paper towels on the market, what are the differences between them and are they safe? This is something that needs to be clarified.

So many kinds of paper丨Wikimedia Commons/Wikimedia Cassidy

Sort tissues too!

Many people do not distinguish the types of paper towels. As long as it can be used for wiping, it can be called a paper towel. In fact, in the national standard, this type of disposable paper used for cleaning is divided into at least three types:

GB/T 20808-2011 Tissue Paper: Generally designed as tissue paper or tissue pack;

GB/T 20810-2018 "Toilet paper (including toilet paper base paper)": generally designed as roll paper;

GB/T 27728-2011 Wet wipes: Sealed packaging, contains water after opening.

Including kitchen paper, there is also GB/T 26174-2010 "Kitchen paper towels": usually also in the form of rolls, but relatively larger in size.

From left to right, from top to bottom: tissue paper, toilet paper, wet wipes, kitchen paper | Photos 1, 2, 4: Photographed by Li Xiaokui; Photo 3: Wikimedia Commons/Anton Diaz

These standards are recommended standards (GB/T) rather than mandatory standards, so the hygiene content in the standards is not of sufficient reference value.

If you want to examine the hygiene standards of paper products, you need to refer to the national standard GB 15979-2002 "Hygiene Standards for Disposable Sanitary Products".

There are mandatory regulations for paper towels and wet wipes, requiring the bacterial colony count to be no more than 200 CFU/g and the fungal colony count to be no more than 100 CFU/g, which are relatively high requirements;

The hygiene standards for kitchen paper are the same as the former;

The standard for toilet paper is lower, requiring the colony count to not exceed 600 CFU/g, so toilet paper is not suitable for use as paper towels.

Seeing this, we know that different paper products cannot be mixed, so a lot of problems come to us, so please prepare notes ahead!

Question time about paper products

Can wet wipes be used to wipe food?

Most of them are OK!

The original intention of designing wet wipes is to wipe food or wipe hands before dining out, and qualified products have low colony counts. Therefore, as long as it is a qualified wet wipe product, there is no need to worry about any harm in using it to wipe apples, after all, this is its job!

However, some wet wipes contain fragrances, which some people find uncomfortable, or food with fragrances is difficult to swallow. So it is best to use wet wipes without fragrances to wipe food.

However, there is one type of wet wipe that is not very suitable for wiping food, let’s talk about it right away.

Can disinfectant wipes really disinfect?

able!

Some wet wipes are disinfectant wipes, with the word "disinfection" on the packaging. The disinfectant ingredients inside are varied: some are added with bactericides, such as benzalkonium chloride; some are added with alcohols with a concentration of about 75%, such as ethanol (i.e. alcohol) or propanol. These ingredients can disinfect.

Relatively speaking, the disinfectant in wet wipes has extremely low toxicity. There is no risk in contact with food or in contact with food after wiping your hands, but it may change the taste of the food.

Benzethonium chloride is also a fungicide丨Rain knocking on the window

Wet wipes with alcohol disinfectants are not suitable for direct use on food, because many foods will absorb ethanol and change their flavor. They are suitable for wiping hands.

Can I use kitchen paper to wipe food?

Can!

The most notable feature of kitchen paper is its strong water and oil absorption ability. It is very useful for wiping countertops or absorbing oil from frying.

Kitchen paper can be placed under the fried food to absorb excess grease丨Li Xiaokui

From a hygiene perspective, the design standards of kitchen paper can meet the requirements of direct contact with food; however, from a practical perspective, some kitchen paper loses strength after absorbing water, and is prone to breaking and falling off, affecting its appearance and taste.

In contrast, the strength of kitchen paper does not decrease significantly after absorbing oil. If it is only used to absorb oil, there is no problem with it coming into contact with food.

What about ordinary paper towels? Can they be used to wipe food?

Can!

Like some kitchen paper, it is okay from a hygiene point of view, but ordinary paper towels may shed crumbs after contact with water.

It's better to wash it directly under the faucet丨Li Xiaokui

Why does rhinitis paper taste sweet?

Rhinitis patients often need to wipe their noses, so "rhinitis tissues" often contain some plant essential oils, the most common of which is menthol, which makes the nose clearer after use. Some also contain moisturizing ingredients, such as glycerin, which can moisturize the skin rubbed by the tissue.

The main ingredients of a tissue paper specially designed for wiping nose丨Emeria

If the botanicals in the tissue bind to the sweet receptors in your mouth, you might be able to taste the sweetness when you wipe your nose or accidentally eat something.

Don't worry, the harm of ingesting such ingredients is minimal, and it is more important to control rhinitis.

Is the fluorescent agent in paper safe?

Safety!

In the process of paper production, some ingredients are difficult to be completely removed or bleached, and the final product is light yellow. Adding fluorescent agents will make the paper look whiter.

The fluorescent agents that can be used on paper towels are safe and pose no significant harm to the human body.

There are two points to add.

At present, the raw materials for producing paper towels are mostly bamboo pulp or light-colored log pulp. Therefore, there are also paper towels that can be made white enough without adding fluorescent agents. It is not accurate to judge whether there is fluorescent agent by the color of paper towels.

In addition, the hygiene standards of natural color paper that claims to not contain fluorescent agents are not higher than those of white paper towels. Moreover, since it has not been bleached, components such as lignin in the wood are not completely removed, which may cause odor or allergies.

Author: Sun Yafei

Editor: Li Xiaokui, Luna

An AI

Remember the handkerchiefs from the last century?

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