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.
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.
