Standards Development

Scope

The first edition of this Technical Specification provides a test method for measuring the microbial contamination reduction performance of household washing machines, using textile pieces contaminated with test microorganisms under standardised test conditions. The microbial numbers of the contaminated textile pieces are measured before and after the washing programme and the reduction is calculated. Furthermore, a potential cross contamination from contaminated to uncontaminated textile pieces within the washing programme is measured.

This Technical Specification does not address the microbial contamination reduction due to any potential or claimed antimicrobial action of detergents as well as of the bleach systems or any other additives.

This Technical Specification applies to washing machines for household use, according to the definition of this term in the scope of TC59. It does not apply to professional washing machines not to commercial laundry operations associated with food service, hospital linens or other non-residential applications.

This Technical Specification does not apply to appliances intended to be used in medical, veterinary, pharmaceutical applications. It does not address hygiene, sanitization, disinfection and/or sterilisation measures. It also does not address the needs of persons with specific health conditions requiring special sanitization and/or disinfection techniques.

This Technical Specification specifies methods that enable reproducible measurements. The measurement and calculation results can only be used for a relative statement (purely de facto). Absolute statements, i.e. healthrelated claims or conclusions about prevention or treatment of a disease or health improvement, are reserved for explicit regulatory action, after a medical assessment applies.

Purpose

Since low energy and water consumption can conflict with cleaning performance and the level of the microbial contamination, it is relevant that a method is available to measure this contamination and calculate its reduction due to a washing programme in a household washing machine. The microbial contamination in a household washing machine may long-term lead to malodour formation and a higher energy consumption due to additional cleaning actions of the washing machine carried out by the consumer.

Therefore, the reduction of the microbial contamination can be an additional performance attribute of a household washing machine, indicating that a certain microbial reduction occurs in a specific machine and programme under standardised test conditions.

Regional and national standards to assess the microbial contamination reduction in a (household) washing machine do exist as e.g. EN 16616 for the chemical-thermal textile disinfection, NSF Protocol 172 for the sanitization of clothes, GB 21551.5 on the antibacterial and cleaning function for household washing machines, but have different test conditions and approaches and the results are not comparable. An internationally accepted measurement method would allow comparable results for the microbial contamination of household washing machines and their washing programmes on a global scale.

A number of details and elements in the outline attached to this NP, such as the washing programme(s) and/or washing machine feature(s) to which this measurement method could be applied, as well as their identification and reporting, are currently under definition or clarification and will be included at the CD stage.