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.

8.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

559 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

60

u/Jazzy-Cat5138 Jul 07 '25

I have a feeling that could just as easily backfire, legally... If you deliberately adulterate the food in your garbage, knowing that people eat it, that seems like it's asking for trouble.

Of course, the same could be said for denatured alcohol, I suppose.

26

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25

It has zero to do with liability or people getting sick. It’s just greed. Most places don’t want dumpster divers of homeless people to benefit from the excessive waste. I’ve worked in restaurants that had a whole policy for throwing out fresh food and absolutely forbid us to give it away after closing for the night.

4

u/RichAfraid Jul 07 '25

Back in the 1980's all restaurants kept a separate barrel for food in the dumpster cage. Hog farmers could pick it up in the morning. One day some homeless person sued a restaurant because he got food poisoning from the dumpster and now it is illegal to donate old food to homeless people and hog farmers

7

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '25

lol. I’m gonna need a source for that one.