sQWash^®

Using sQWash® is simple because it is already diluted to a ready-to-use concentration. After power-washing livestock facilities such as pens, trucks, or chutes, saturate the surfaces by spraying sQWash® with a power sprayer or garden sprayer.

There is no need to rinse. sQWash® is non-toxic to livestock and will kill E. coli, Salmonella, or Clostridia on pen surfaces, reducing the likelihood of infection when new livestock arrive.

sQWash® contains an active ingredient that is extremely effective, but also selective. Pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella contain an enzyme that lets them use nitrate as an energy source. That is the same reason livestock have more health problems when nitrate is present in the water supply.

sQWash® acts like a package bomb. When these pathogens consume it, their own enzyme converts an ingredient in sQWash® into a compound that is toxic to them.

Most bacteria do not contain the enzyme that pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella carry, so only those pathogens are targeted. Without the enzyme, the ingredient is non-toxic, which is why so-called “friendly” bacteria are not affected.

It is effective because both E. coli and Salmonella are susceptible to the now-toxic compound. The pathogens take it inside the cell, open it, and convert it into a toxin.

In one published research study, E. coli concentration decreased from 1,000,000 CFU/mL to 100 CFU/mL in 6 hours.

No. Although sQWash® is not toxic to livestock, some active ingredients are not approved as feed ingredients. Feeding certain ingredients for the final 30 days before slaughter is also patented as a method to prevent E. coli or Salmonella contamination of the carcass, so feeding sQWash® would be a patent infringement as well. Feeding sQWash® to livestock is not recommended.

No. Owners are sometimes concerned that livestock might consume a small amount by licking pens, gates, or other surfaces. The ingredients in sQWash® are not toxic to livestock.

The active ingredients have been shown to kill E. coli and Salmonella when fed to livestock, and are patented by the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA as a pre-harvest treatment to prevent these pathogens on carcasses. The levels fed in that research were roughly 30 ml of sQWash® per 100 lb of body weight per day, so residual amounts picked up from licking pens are comparatively insignificant.

sQWash® can also be used to kill pathogenic bacteria on fruits, vegetables, and other potentially contaminated products, where E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become common. Research conducted at Pennsylvania State University showed the active ingredients were extremely effective at reducing Salmonella counts on poultry carcass meat, spinach, and apples when sprayed on those products.