St. Louis, MO — April 22, 2024 — In a strategic move to elevate customer satisfaction and improve the Hospitality Industry experience, Wexford Labs has unveiled its Customer Scorecard Program. This program aims to gather valuable insights directly from Hospitality customers who have purchased Wexford Labs disinfecting products through Guest Supply.

How Does the Customer Scorecard Program Work? Customers are invited to participate in the program by completing a brief Scorecard for their Property. Participants will answer a set of five (5) questions, providing crucial feedback on their experience with Wexford Labs products. As a token of appreciation, customers who complete the Customer Scorecard will receive a 4 Free Bottles of Wexford Labs’ CleanCide RTU ready-to-use spray and a Canister of Purefexion Wipes.

CleanCide RTU: Wexford’s CleanCide Ready-to-Use Spray has earned recognition from the EPA’s Safer Choice Design for Environment Program. This rigorous program highlights the product’s commitment to health, safety, and environmental sustainability. The CleanCide RTU spray delivers powerful disinfection while minimizing its impact on the environment. It’s the responsible choice for effective disinfecting.

Expanding the Safer Choice Portfolio Alongside CleanCide RTU, Wexford Labs proudly offers Purefexion Disinfecting Wipes, another product part of the EPA Safer Choice DfE Program. These wipes combine quick access with Eco-consciousness.

Eligibility and Participation Properties that have purchased Wexford Labs products through Guest Supply are eligible for the Free Product Kit. Each property can claim (4) Free 1 Quart Bottles of CleanCide and (1) Free Canister of Purefexion Wipes upon completing the Customer Scorecard once.

Take the Survey Ready to share your insights? Access the Wexford Labs Customer Scorecard Survey here.

Wexford Labs remains committed to excellence, innovation, and the well-being of our valued customers. For media inquiries or further information, please contact our Channel Management Group, James Supply.

About Wexford Labs: Wexford Labs is a trusted name in disinfection solutions, serving diverse industries including Hospitality, Healthcare, and Commercial Facilities for over 45 years. Their mission is to create safer, healthier environments through cutting-edge products and unwavering dedication to customer satisfaction.

Contact Hospitality Press Office: James Supply Phone: (732) 924-3800 Email: wexford@jamessupply.com Website: www.wexfordlabs.com or www.jamessupply.com/wexford .

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Our first Holiday season in full swing gives us the perfect opportunity to show how James Supply does promotions. We know everyone likes to save a few bucks, but nothing feels better than…GIVING BACK. Our team got together with a few local organizations that make a big impact and you can help us make sure they have the disinfecting supplies they need for this Family Friendly Holiday!

We made it pretty simple, for every five (5) Case Packs of Wexford Labs products we sell until January 31st, we will donate a (1) Case Pack of CleanCide 80-Count Disinfecting Wipes to one of our partner Organizations.

Better yet if there are five (5) Case Packs purchased on a SINGLE Order, we will give you the option of donating to a local organization in your community!

• Pop.Earth – Charity for Autism
• Social Behavioral Learning Solutions – Supporting the Educational Journey
• MOZAIC – A part of ARC the nations largest provider of services to the special needs community.

Check out the details of James Supply’s “Case Pack Give Back” Promotion > Here

Source:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-autism-solvents-idUKKCN1UB2IH

https://oem.bmj.com/content/76/9/644

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11869-018-0625-x

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/prevention/Pages/Cleaners-Sanitizers-Disinfectants.aspx

Women’s Voice For Earth – Cleaning with Pesticides? Quit the Quats!

CDC – Knowledge and Practices Regarding Safe Household Cleaning and Disinfection for COVID-19 Prevention — United States, May 2020

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it’s winners for the 2021 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award. Among which you will find Wexford Labs, winning for the second time and being recognized as a leader in safer disinfecting products.

That means if you are looking for EFFECTIVE disinfectants that offer a more human and environment friendly formula, look no further. Your search for the best disinfecting fit within Hospitality and Foodservice is Wexford Labs. Along with their EPA List N and EPA Designed for Environment Certification, their CleanCide and Thymo-Cide RTU are NSF certified, solidifying their position as the perfect HoReCa one-step cleaning solution.

The time is now for more efficient and safer disinfecting products in Hospitality and Foodservice.

Read the Press Release from the EPA here.

Skip straight to Wexford Labs on the list here.

View Wexford Labs products here.

With 45 years in safer cleaning formulation and manufacturing, Wexford Labs understands how important education is at all levels of facility management. This Wexford Labs E-Book is an introduction into how a property can go beyond clean, and offer a safer environment for children, seniors, higher-risk patrons, and their general guest population.

Many cleaning products today contain higher toxicity and possibly harmful ingredients, that are not needed to efficiently disinfect surfaces. Stemming from Wexford Labs’ deep history in the Healthcare & Education industry, they are focused on high-power disinfecting products with the lowest levels of toxicity to humans and the environment.

The Path to Smarter, Safer Disinfection is part of a continuous effort in education on not only better cleaning practices, but making more informed decisions on the disinfectants in your environment. The myths that safer cleaning products are more expensive, less powerful, or in some way “come up short” compared to major market presence brands, are just that.

We know there are a lot of pandemic related acronyms, but the EPA’s Designed for Environment (DfE) program is one specifically for those with sustainability on the mind. Although many of the brands may lead the market in alternative cleaning chemicals, few of them lead in advertising spend. Arm & Hammer is one of the few you may actually see sporting the logo on TV Commercials, looking to build rapport with parents.

Despite the lack of awareness the EPA Designed for Environment Certified Product list is a very important tool to a clean AND safe environment in Hospitality, Foodservice, and beyond. Reading labels isn’t exactly the most popular process, but most are usually more than surprised, when someone shines a light on what goes into some of today’s products on our shelves. Cleaning and Disinfecting is no exception but seemingly one of the most overlooked areas. Perhaps because we feel its acceptable to use harmful chemicals when fighting harmful pathogens, the old fight fire with fire?

As an additional resource, to consumers and end-users, the EPA created the Safer Choice Program to identify products that use safer alternative chemicals without sacrificing efficiency. This list of only 2,000 products have been further tested to guarantee performance while utilizing ONLY Safer Choice qualified ingredients. The DfE Certification not only ensures environmental sustainability but safer use with children, pets, and in the workplace.

This is what the EPA has to say about the presence of the Designed for Environment Certification on products:

If you see the DfE logo on an EPA-authorized antimicrobial pesticide label, you can be assured that the product:

• is in the least-hazardous classes (i.e., III and IV) of EPA’s acute toxicity category hierarchy;
• is unlikely to have carcinogenic or endocrine disruptor properties;
• is unlikely to cause developmental, reproductive, mutagenic, or neurotoxicity issues;
• EPA has reviewed and accepted mixtures, including inert ingredients;
• does not require the use of Agency-mandated personal protective equipment;
• has no unresolved or unreasonable adverse effects reported;
• has no unresolved efficacy failures (associated with the Antimicrobial Testing Program or otherwise);
• has no unresolved compliance or enforcement actions associated with it; and
• has the identical formulation as the one identified in the DfE application approved by EPA.

Sometimes it is the little things that matter, and in this case that little thing can help in a huge way. With current cleaning practices being much higher than usual, we are putting more disinfecting products on surfaces exposed to children, people with allergies, and pets more often than ever. Many cleaning and disinfecting products require PPE, leave behind residue, or need to be thoroughly rinsed off before any food-contact.

In the hotel and foodservice environment among the hustle and bustle of everyday business, exposure to these products is almost guaranteed. The CDC reports that 1 out of 3 adults use disinfecting products in a harmful way. We certainly need better education on “best practices” but putting the right products in place is a very important part of the puzzle.

Pets and children (maybe some adults) tend to touch and/or lick the areas you may least expect, so making sure all surfaces use the safest products available should be the #1 priority of all Facility Managers. This makes sure that even if an area isn’t fully rinsed, meant for certain types of contact, or had the time to properly dry; you are mitigating the risk of possibly harmful transfer of chemicals to  your teams and patrons.

After all fighting fire with fire just sounds like a recipe for more damage, because it is…

If you are looking for products that help with Well Certification’s Preferred Cleaning Products criteria, or products that can help support your lead qualification, the EPA DfE list will help with that as well.

See a complete list of products on the EPA’s site here: EPA DfE Product Search

It looks like Apple is getting smarter with their product care directions, and trying to make sure their products last a bit longer. In a recent Support Documentation update Apple warns against using hydrogen peroxide or bleach based disinfectants on their products.  You also should NOT submerge your Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, display or peripheral…but we hope that is more obvious. You can find hydrogen peroxide in many popular products including Lysol.

Hydrogen peroxide can create stress cracks and other issues in hard and soft surfaces.

Hydrogen peroxide is a better alternative to “Quat” based disinfectants, but still presents issues in both hard and soft surfaces prevalent in many environments. Hydrogen peroxide can create issues in hard surfaces such as acrylic, causing stress cracks after some rigorous 24 hour testing compared to citrus-acid based wipes. You can see effects to soft materials where there can be some degradation and swelling under testing as well.

What does this mean in Hospitality and Foodservice?

When it comes to FF&E and OS&E you should take into consideration what your teams Housekeeping teams are using. Cleaning and disinfecting products should not cut down the lifespan of the equipment in your environment, or be possibly be harmful to your staff and patrons. In Hotel Gyms wipes were used heavily even pre-pandemic and replacement costs on hard and soft surfaces in this environment can be very high. Materials like acrylic are used through many interior designs within the Lobby and Guest Rooms, from area dividers to room number signage.  You start thinking about performance fabrics used in general areas or foodservice seating and the long term costs could get interesting.

If you work with a 90 minute turnover rate time across a restaurant open say 8 hours, that is about 11 parties seated. We would like to imagine, at the moment especially, that these seats are being cleaned after each party. Now depending on how corrosive to the material the cleaner may be, its no wonder there seems to be a shortage of unworn seats at lots of diners.

Save your property on “ghost costs” and make the right supply chain decisions.

Using the wrong products can create hidden maintenance costs, and in a business environment where every dollar counts, it matters. Making sure decision makers in Housekeeping and Procurement are aware of the environment and and health costs associated with common disinfectants should always be a priority.

Food safety protocols are perhaps some of the most stringent safety regulations among broader business requirements. Making sure what we eat is safe has kept our country healthier than most, from very early on and kept profitable production lines going. Now Foodservice is faced with an intense new combatant in Covid-19, keeping the industry closed in many areas and in need of help everywhere.

As re-opening or loosening guidelines and precautions starts to spread, Restaurants and Bars will begin to test the cleaning and disinfecting solutions put in place. Among those concerns should be,  “What is in those cleaning products” and at the top (and what is concerning) are “quats”.  Quaternary Ammonium Compounds, basically a line list of harmful chemicals that usually end in “onium chloride” that do a great job on Covid-19, and have their own list of other possible affects they leave behind with their residue.

• Potent skin irritants and can cause rashes and dermatitis.
• Cleaning workers exposed regularly to “quats” have developed occupational asthma.
• Reproductive harm, potentially affecting fertility, and possibly leading to birth defects.
• Widespread use of quats is contributing to the global problem of antimicrobial resistance, leading to the development of “superbugs” that cannot be controlled with antibiotics.

These types of disinfectants don’t really feel like they fit the bill for our essential Foodservice Workers or  their customers. Yet this is what is produced from most of your “big brands” and made available to distributors and resellers. “Quats” tend to keep prices low and are complete with warnings and directions that according to a recent CDC survey, regarding household cleaning practices, a THIRD of responders don’t adhere to. Now we know Foodservice teams are FAR more efficient than any of us at home, but the idea that these guidelines are obviously under-communicated is alarming.

Finding the right choice may be a bit more difficult, but it will be well worth it to your family at work and the families who visit. Products utilizing citric acid, lactic acid,  hydrogen peroxide, or thymol are safer options but should still be used properly according to instructions and warning.

They have the proper, EPA N-Listed, Covid-19 killing power but just like “quats” are subject to efficacy times. Surfaces must be left WET for the stated time frame in order to actually disinfect and even sanitize. This tends to be anywhere from 2-10 minutes, depending on how powerful the ingredients are most times.

Let’s make the right choices not only for our food-contact surfaces, but the entire environment, and offer a safer home to our family and restaurant goers alike.

Want more information on disinfecting in Hospitality & Foodservice? Check out our related article “Are you using the right cleaning products in your Hotel or Resort Lobby?”

Source:

Chemical & Engineering News – Do we know enough about the safety of “quat” disinfectants?

Women’s Voice For Earth – Cleaning with Pesticides? Quit the Quats!

CDC – Knowledge and Practices Regarding Safe Household Cleaning and Disinfection for COVID-19 Prevention — United States, May 2020

UMass Lowell – Disinfectants Can Kill the Coronavirus, but Can Also Harm Health

The EPA N List…a list in which the EPA expects all products will kill SARS-CoV-2. Not a list of safe products to use on yourself to kill SARS-CoV-2 so lets just get that out of the way. This is a list of products meant to be used on surfaces and should still be kept out of the reach of children. Note as well there are levels of harmfulness that can be associated with these products and most are considered pesticides.

There is though a “Safer Choice Standard” compiling the better choices in this group, and that is perhaps one of the best tools we have found. However, this isn’t a proactive list and products that are already on List N still have to be submitted and it takes time.

In terms of killing SARS-CoV-2 there is a bit more to it than just wipe or spray and go. These products have very specific times (efficacy time or contact time) they must be left WET on the surface first to sanitize and then a bit longer to disinfect. Keep in mind they may not list SARS-CoV-2 specifically, it may be another related virus that they categorize as being similar or more difficult to kill. In that case you are following those instructions with the expectation of killing the virus, and we suggest wiping the surface down with something less evasive after disinfecting.

If you take a jump over to the EPA site, you can find out a lot more about the product and define some of the important abbreviations you might see. Perhaps one of the most important for Foodservice and Hospitality is understanding Food Contact guidelines, and if a surface needs to be rinsed afterwards. Hopefully, it doesn’t need to be said but, don’t use any of them on food.

• Hard Nonporous (HN): Use on hard nonporous surfaces like doorknobs, faucets, light switches, and sealed wood.
• Porous (P): Use on porous surfaces like fabric, cushions, untreated wood.
• Food Contact Surfaces, Post-Rinse Required (FCR): Use on surfaces that touch food like countertops, dishes, and cooking utensils. Do not use on food. Rinse the surface after using this product.
• Food Contact Surfaces, No Rinse (FCNR): Use on surfaces that touch food like countertops, dishes, and cooking utensils. Do not use on food. You do not need to rinse the surface after using this product.

You should be wearing proper protection on your hands when applying many, if not most, of these products. They usually recommend washing you hands right after using them as well.

A few factors seem to still be at play here, limited manufacturers and limited EPA resources to qualify new facilities and products. Let’s take disinfecting wipes for example. The facility it is made in must be certified by the EPA for the process it intends, then the ingredients must be EPA certified. In the case of wipes this means the clothe roll and the disinfecting fluid it will absorb, and finally the completed product must be EPA tested and approved to get that List N badge.

None of this is any small task for either side and is what, hopefully, keeps large outbreaks of even more harmful products from emerging. We have seen some issues with Hand Sanitizers but those fall under FDA guidelines. You can also get a crash course on snooping out products that could be an issue via the EPA Compliance Advisory.

Then the new cleaning standards come into play, and the level of demand has risen even too quickly for major players like Clorox. It will be hard to match the industries push to reopen with proper growth in capacity, and we are sure there is a fear of overbuilding production processes that will just be shut back down.

The carefully measured scale of U.S. Manufacturing is truly being tested and it will take some time to adjust. How long, is not quite clear, there seemed to be talks of inventory returning to better levels mid-2021, but we haven’t seen any further updates since the end of last year. There are however, some great niche brands out there using safer chemicals and still on the EPA N List, and perhaps more readily available.

Source:

EPA – Safer Choice Standards

EPA – List N Search Tool

EPA – “I have a question about a word or phrase on the List N website. I’m not sure how something on List N helps me fight COVID-19.”

FDA – Hand Sanitizers not to use