The Ministry of Health has assigned the Department of Medical Equipment and Works to coordinate with relevant agencies to urgently research and develop standards for antibacterial fabric masks.
There are no standards for antibacterial fabric masks
Ministry of Industry and Trade – Dang Hoang An said that there should be standards and standards for face masks made from antibacterial fabrics masks to prevent diseases. Thereby, if detecting that enterprises supplying to the market products that do not meet the set standards will have grounds to strictly deal with them, avoiding the case of one-sided registration and one-way production.
It is known that the Ministry of Science and Technology has issued the national standard TCVN 8389: 2010 on medical masks (including 3 parts: ordinary medical face masks; medical masks to prevent infections; medical masks. chemical prevention). In particular, medical masks to prevent infections have the effect of preventing and killing 99.9% of bacteria right on the mask surface; Chemical medical masks for preventing toxic gases and toxic gases create a clean air stream after going through the activated carbon filter layer; Conventional medical masks apply to sterilized and non-sterilized medical masks and national standard TCVN 7312: 2003 on personal means of protecting respiratory organs – masks with dust filters (masks fabric). However, standards for antibacterial fabric masks are lacking.
In response to this proposal, Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong assigned the Department of Medical Equipment and Works to coordinate with relevant agencies to urgently research and develop standards for antibacterial fabric masks. Before businesses put this type of mask on the consumer market, the authorities need to check quality standards.
Criteria for evaluating the antibacterial ability of textiles
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thong, former Director of the Textile Research Institute, before and until now, in the world as well as in Vietnam, the introduction of antibacterial agents on fabrics is mainly done after bleaching. , dye or print flowers in different ways: padding, coating or spraying … Processed by this method, the finished fabric can kill up to 90% bacteria after 1 hour of exposure and reduce to 60-70% after several washings (after 10 or 20 washes depending on the antimicrobial agent used). The advantage of this technology is that it can handle small batches, quickly and flexibly in the production and supply of products to customers, in accordance with the requirement of timely supply of antibacterial fabrics for export production. fabric.
Dong Xuan Knitting is accelerating the production of face masks made from antibacterial fabrics to serve the needs of the people
The variety of antibacterial substances used to produce antibacterial fabrics in Vietnam is very rich, including total antibacterial substances. and natural antibacterial agents. Most of the synthetic antimicrobials used on textiles and garments are biocides, have strong bactericidal activity, can be applied by different methods, effective on fibers, fibers.
Antimicrobial agents used in the production of antibacterial fabrics in Vietnam are Silvadur 930 FLEX antimicrobial (Dow), Ruco-Bac AGL, Guc-BAC AGP (Rudolf group), Ablusil Q-Guard (Taiwan). surfactant), sanitized TH22-27 (Clariant), Agion® AM-B10G (Agion) and products from Chitosan.
Mr. Thong also said that there are two groups of test methods to evaluate the antibacterial ability of textiles. One is qualitative methods including AATCC TM147 and AATCC TM30 (antifungal) (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists), ISO / DIS 20645, EN ISO 20645 and ISO 11721 and SN195 920 (921 – antifungal) (Swiss standard).
Second, the quantitative methods include AATCC 100, ISO 20743, SN 195924, JIS L1902 and ASTM E 2149. Quantitative methods are more widely applied, although it is time consuming and costly because of the number of bacteria. practice and determine the level of bactericidal / fungicidal activity. In addition, this method can be used for all types of textiles and antimicrobials and can make comparisons between different antimicrobial treatments as well as different levels of treatment. on the same material.
The most recognized and used methods in the international textile trade are AATCC 100, ISO 20743 and AATCC 147. Currently, the Textile Testing Center under Textile Research Institute Joint Stock Company is a unit in Vietnam capable of testing the antibacterial ability of fabrics according to the recognized AATCC 100, ISO 20743 and AATCC 147 standards. conforming to ISO 17025: 2017 standard and recognized internationally.
