We checked the advice on cleaning pans with Corvalol: the result made me laugh

Rospotrebnadzor warned Russians today against cleaning pans with Corvalol. We in the editorial office were so surprised by this advice that, of course, we immediately tried to clean the pan with this medicine and found out whether the process was really so harmful.

“There are specialized products for cleaning kitchen utensils and utensils, it is not advisable to use medicines,” Nadezhda Raeva, head of the food hygiene department of the Rospotrebnadzor for the Moscow Region, is quoted by the media as saying. She added that the possible toxic effects resulting from the interaction of drugs with elements of dishes have not been studied and may be different, depending on the material being processed.

There are indeed quite a lot of tips and videos on the Internet praising Corvalol as a dishwashing detergent. Here, for example, is a note from a Russian woman’s blog dated 2019.

“The smell, of course, will stand in the kitchen, but it will quickly disappear when you ventilate the room. Of course, if you have a strong soot, then Corvalol will not help here, you will have to use more aggressive chemical cleaners for cleaning dishes, ”the author writes. She warns that no knives should be used, it is enough to moisten the sponge with corvalol and scrub the pan or teapot. The blogger assures that even valerian tincture can be used to wash dishes.

Whether Corvalol is really popular among Russians for cleaning dishes is an open question. But its use can be unsafe. This was told in an interview with the correspondent of “MK” Doctor of Chemical Sciences Dmitry Mustafin. However, he was talking only about aluminum dishes.

– This will lead to the fact that after such a “gentle” cleaning, the dishes cannot be used. So, for example, Corvalol contains sodium hydroxide, which can destroy the protective aluminum film on the pan. Accordingly, a person who then eats food cooked in this pan will then be harmed.

The next component is ethanol, medical alcohol, which is necessarily included in the medicine. It really destroys fats, but isn’t it easier to take vodka or alcohol without additives for cleaning, if necessary?

According to Mustafin, most of the “folk recipes” are no longer needed today – they were relevant in an era when there was no such abundance of household chemicals specially created to solve various kitchen problems in the world.

– Of course, in a special tool there may be harmful substances. However, the products are designed so as not to harm dishes and other utensils, they are specifically indicated: what material they are suitable for. If you follow the rules, it is much safer than Corvalol. Especially if you wash off the product properly, – the specialist sums up.

Well, for those who are still afraid of “chemistry” like fire, there are win-win, safe and time-tested remedies – citric acid or soda. An old life hack: if you want to descale a kettle, boil a saturated solution of citric acid in it. It works! As for soda, it is a universal abrasive; it is soda that is easiest to clean, for example, glasses or crystal dishes to a beautiful shine. Some people still use baking soda for daily dishwashing or for cleaning plumbing fixtures. The only exception is delicate surfaces like hobs in the kitchen: baking soda can scratch them, so it’s best to use non-abrasive cleaners.

Nobody knows anything about Corvalol, but are there other secrets of experienced housewives? We looked into the 1959 Encyclopedia of the Household.

“Aluminum utensils go on sale degreased and disinfected, you just need to rinse them before use. It is recommended to lubricate the walls of new dishes with some animal fat or vegetable oil and boil water or milk in it.

If the dishes are heavily soiled, add a little ammonia, borax (30 g per 1 liter of water) or baking soda (a teaspoon per 1 liter of water) to the washing water. After cleaning, the dishes should be washed with hot water.

Aluminum utensils are not recommended to be cleaned with hard powders and metal brushes; alkalis and acids should not be used to clean them, as the utensils deteriorate from them.

What was required to be proved: even in 1959 they already knew that alkalis and acids are harmful to aluminum, and Corvalol contains alkali (sodium hydroxide). Therefore, the problem is solved incorrectly.

For practical confirmation, we decided to wash the pan with Corvalol ourselves. The sponge, moistened with the preparation, slid along the bottom of the pan, covered with burnt fat, like a water strider on the surface of a river, leaving no traces. It even became funny because of the discrepancy between expectations and the effect.

Meanwhile, ordinary baking soda easily coped with pollution. Of course, we could advise lovers of strange ways of washing dishes to take Corvalol internally to get rid of any anxiety – including about cleanliness in the kitchen. But the fact is that doctors do not recommend using Corvalol at all. Washing dishes with a regular dishwashing liquid can calm the nerves much more effectively.