There’s a whole genus of bacteria Pseudomonas out there that really don’t give a hoot about vinegar. If you are looking for information on cleaning home healthcare items, you must follow your physician’s advice. It is not safe to use as a disinfectant for any medical equipment. Got it? In most cases, distilled vinegar is acceptable as a disinfectant for hard surfaces in a home. So here is my advice, given with the understanding that if you have any type of condition that may compromise your immune system, you follow your health care provider’s advice and not mine. Aside from that, you certainly aren’t going to save money by cleaning your toilet with aged balsamic vinegar, even if it does smell nicer. Why? You need to know the acidity of your cleaning agent. You’re just craving some french fries with malt vinegar, now aren’t you?ĭistilled vinegar is the only type of vinegar that should be used for disinfecting. Basically, a specific kind of bacteria -genus Acetobacter metabolize (think of it as their equivalent of eating) alcohol and produce acetic acid as their waste. Vinegar is the byproduct of ethanol fermentation. In our litigious climate, I’m sure you can understand my concern. The CDC says the use of vinegar is inconclusive and needs to be studied further and I only found this after using a multitude of search terms to try and weed out the 934462 sites on the web that basically say, “Vinegar is the Greatest Cleaning Agent Ever!!! I don’t have any evidence, so you’ll just have to trust me because I say so”. There are certain times where I am reluctant to give a hard answer. I can’t be around bleach, it triggers SEVERE migraines. Can one substitute vinegar -lots of it- for the bleach when cleaning and disinfecting?