Latest Info

Is labelling of Biocidal Products clear enough?

Latest Info
Is labelling of biocidal products clear enough?

Belgium asked this question to 2025 Belgians in a survey commissioned by the Federal Public Service for Public Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment on the use of disinfectant biocides (PT1, PT2, PT4).
The authority wanted to analyse and understand how the general public uses disinfectant biocidal products. This was deemed necessary because, following the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent widespread use of disinfectant biocidal products by the general public, numerous incident reports were received by the Poison Control Centre.
The results were quite discouraging: 

  • The vast majority of the users do not read the instructions before the use, either because they think they do not need to, or because they find them difficult to read (small fonts, too much info, or bad contrast between text and background).
  • Many users do not understand the labels because they find the language difficult.

This lack of awareness towards the correct uses brought to mistakes on many respects, among which:

  1. Correct contact time
  2. Respect of the expiry date
  3. Use as a detergent when it was not the case
  4. Mix of disinfectant products with other products
  5. Dilution of the products (suggested ratios were not applied)

This conduct may cause an increase the risks for health and the environment and may reduce the product efficacy.
The Belgian authorities are working to make biocide labelling more readable and easy to understand.


click here to read the whole evaluation or contact our knoell-experts.
 

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Photo of Nadine Wieneke
Dr Nadine Wieneke
Head of Division Regulatory Affairs Biocides