Latest research from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin confirmed very clear that mechanical transmission of ToBRFV via shoes and tyres is very important and has to be excluded.
Effective hygiene measures to prevent the introduction of harmful pathogens is a must have. However, due to the worldwide spread of the Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) over the past 10 years, the cleaning and disinfection activities of vegetable growers have been further intensified.
From left: no mechanical cleaning, light mechanical impact, strong mechanical impact
In this context, the decontamination of shoes poses a challenge due to a number of unique issues. Shoe soles are usually soiled, which makes it difficult or impossible for a disinfectant to reach the pathogens underneath the dirt layer. Furthermore, the contact time between disinfectant and shoe sole on a disinfection mat is often just a few seconds due to the short time users remain on the mat, which makes the decontamination even more difficult. With this in mind, we investigated whether the disinfectant MENNO Florades (4 %) in a disinfection mat against ToBRFV leads to a satisfying result.
The study showed that the decontamination of shoe soles was significantly influenced by the intensity of mechanical cleaning. By stepping over a disinfection mat filled with MENNO Florades, ToBRFV could be significantly removed from the soles of the shoes. The virus depletion was significantly increased again when the treading behavior on the mat was intensified.
In addition, the mat was analyzed to see whether infectious ToBRFV accumulated there. ToBRFV was reliably inactivated in the disinfection mat filled with 4 % MENNO Florades. A control variant filled with water clearly demonstrates the need for an effective disinfectant. The Tomato brown rugose fruit virus accumulated in the mat filled with water and was still highly accumulated and infectious days after the trial.
So what can we conclude from this?
1) Mechanical cleaning of the shoe sole by rubbing off the dirt and contaminants is crucial to successfully remove pathogens (ToBRFV, CGMMV, PMMoV etc.)
2) Mechanical cleaning can be ensured by treading behavior or by (rotating) brushes
3) The disinfectant must be based on a stable active ingredient so that it also works reliably in the presence of dirt
4) MENNO Florades fulfils these requirements to the safe decontamination of ToBRFV
5) Ensure that the disinfection mat is always filled with a sufficient amount of working solution
In addition to shoes, pathogens such as ToBRFV can also be introduced and spread through contaminated tyres of forklifts, trolleys, etc. For this reason, the movement of vehicles between different production areas is associated with a high risk.
The problem of mechanical cleaning of tyres is while driving over a disinfection mat no reliable mechanical impact is enforced to tyres, that´s why new concepts are needed here!
A recent investigation is now examining whether the innovative ProfilGate system together with MENNO Florades can provide a solution to this problem. The patented system consists of brush strips integrated into steel trays that actively clean the tyres as they are driven over, wetting the cleaned profiles with the disinfectant solution in the process. The results are expected shortly.
MENNO Chemie will be present in stand 2.106 at Greentech Amsterdam.
For more information:
Menno Chemie GmbH & Co KG.
Langer Kamp 104
D-22850 Norderstedt
T: +49 40-529 06 67-0
[email protected]
www.menno.de