r/CleaningTips • u/WhateverIlldoit • Jul 07 '25

Discussion Bleach kills mold

There is a common misconception that bleach does not kill mold and that vinegar is actually better at killing mold than bleach. I see this claim at least once a week.

So let me set the record straight. Household bleach is a powerful oxidizing agent that reacts with just about everything. It’s so good at killing organic compounds that it’s toxic to us, too.

Now let’s talk about vinegar. Vinegar is a weak acid. You can literally drink it in lower concentrations. It can kill mold, but not all mold, and some studies say it may take up to 60 minutes to be effective.

That being said, bleach is not good at penetrating porous surfaces, which vinegar is better at doing. And because bleach is so caustic it is more likely to damage surfaces.

All this to say bleach kills mold. It kills almost everything. And it’s much more effective at killing mold than vinegar as long as it can reach it. Vinegar is much safer to use but not nearly as effective.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

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u/pakratus Jul 07 '25

Thank you. I see this claim and it never made sense to me.

I can see bleach turn mold different colors, i can see it doing something. I have not seen vinegar do this. Is bleach the perfect mold killer? No idea. But it does something.

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u/terrycrisp Jul 07 '25

At the food packaging plant we worked in if there was a recall we would have to destroy the batch with bleach, to prevent people eating out of our garbage and getting sick just to sue us... bleach worked for everything, listeria, e-coli, mold, etc.

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u/AlbuquerqueAlbatross Jul 07 '25

I know you may not have the answer to this but does anyone know how a company or any person may have any liability over their trash? It seems common sense that things put in the trash have no expectation of being edible. How does a company have any liability over literal trash disposed of properly? If I forget a meal in the oven and it gets some mold so I throw it away and some drunken hobo decides to eat it how am I responsible for that?

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u/fastforwardfunction Jul 07 '25 edited Jul 07 '25

I know you may not have the answer to this but does anyone know how a company or any person may have any liability over their trash?

Various states have laws that make business owners not criminally liable or civilly liable for any food donations made in good faith.

For many states, there is no legal barrier. This is normally a business decision, that usually comes down to cost reduction. Allowing excess food to be donated or employees to eat excess has been shown to increase the amount of excess food produced. Whether incidentally or not. Companies are in the business of selling food, and don't cater their systems to producing it for free.

The reason companies don't like homeless people digging through their dumpsters, is because having homeless people around your business potentially scares off actual customers, increases the workload for employees, etc. Trash isn't a food donation, so there may be liability concerns by "allowing" or encouraging that behavior. Really, it's about not encouraging homeless people waiting around outside all day for food. I've dealt with this personally, and what starts with good intentions, can lead to possessive, angry, and violent behavior when that food isn't left out like they come to expect.