What the heck is BI-OME®?

BI-OME® is a non-migrating antimicrobial technology with additional viral reducing technology. It has permanent, non-harmful odour control features which guarantees an optimal freshness and hygiene to textiles treated with it.

To explain this the COBA team had an interview with Willa Haasbroek, Microbiologist at a world renowned testing lab. Willa has a Master’s degree in Microbiology and over 20 years of experience in the field.

Willa Haasbroek explained that

“A biocide is defined in the European legislation as a chemical substance or microorganism intended to exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism. With the arrival of Covid-19, the official name of the coronavirus that caused the global pandemic, renewed focus was placed on enhancing hygiene to reduce the viral spread. Coating the Entra-Clean Hygiene+ mat with BI-OME® minimizes cross contamination from one surface to another.”

BI-OME® is non-harmful to humans and the environment due to the non-metal, non-leaching quat silane-based chemistry. Through its nature it is inherently biodegradable. The biocide, BI-OME® is registered with the prestige OEKO-TEX®.

Micro-organisms attach to your shoes from the outside, get scraped off by the mat. Once the micro-organism encounters contact with the BI-OME® coating, their cell membrane is punctured.

“Puncturing the cell of a micro-organism will deactivate the micro-organism and cause it to stop growing” – Willa Haasbroek.

Although textiles are not seen as a major carrier of viruses, you can find viability of viruses for several hours to a day.  The viruses can get trapped on textiles and thus have reduced likelihood of spreading.

Over recent months, the manufacturer of the BI-OME® technology has worked closely with a series of international third-party laboratories to test different fabric substrates against a wide range of enveloped viruses.

Before washing, the various textile samples treated with BI-OME® shown excellent results on virus reduction.

After washing, a decrease in virus reduction performance of coating technologies was expected. However, the fabric can be washed up to 25 times without reducing the biocide coating, BI-OME® retained its ability to reduce 98.5% of the viruses.

The public and public health officials should feel confident that the Entra-Clean Hygiene+ is available to help protect people from the spread of viruses.

To get the most benefit, to ensure the best performance and to maintain the warranties, you need to properly take care of your entrance mats. For stubborn stains neutral soap diluted in lukewarm water with a sponge is the best method.

“Neutral soaps are those soaps which don’t contain lye (NaOH) or potash (KOH) and are therefore gentler on skin and BI-OME® treated fabrics.” – Willa Haasbroek

If you still struggle to get stubborn stains out, use the same solution with a soft-bristle brush and let the solution pre-soak for a minute or two before attempting to brush it clean. The Entra-Clean Hygiene+ is fully machine washable – with no reduction in active cleaning power for the life of the mat.