an investigation of domestic laundry in europe - habits ... - SIFO

Professional Report No. 1 – 2003TitleISBNISSNDatoAn Investigation of domestic Laundry inEurope –Habits, Hygiene and Functional Performance82-7063-385-21502-676023.03.2003Forfatter(e)Anne-Helene Arild (Ed.), Ragnhild Brusdal,Jan Tore Halvorsen Gunnarsen, Inge A. C. vanKessel, Paul M. J. TerpstraOppdragsgiverProsjektnummer21-2001-13Faglig ansvarlig sign.European Commission - Consumer policy programmeSummaryA number of findings from the three different main studies (survey, laundry performance and hygienicquality) are grouped into four categories. These categories have been chosen such that they are related tohygiene and cleaning performance.The categories are:• Laundering practices• Attitudes• Detergents used• Temperature used and the frequency of doing laundry in the households.Links between these findings that may be of interest in the scope of this research are pinpointed and discussed.Spain is the country, which definitely shows the most different patterns in this investigation. This pertainsto both performance and hygiene, as well as to laundry habits.A test method for establishing the hygiene quality of washing laundry under real life conditions has beendeveloped. The method has proven repeatability and validity. Further fine-tuning is still needed for theselection of laundry samples and the sampling itself.KeywordsLaundry, habits, hygiene, washing performance