In sanitising, which combination is used?

• A. A detergent and disinfectant combined
• B. A cleaning agent that only cleans
• C. A substance used to flavour foods
• D. Water only

Answer: (D)

Sanitising aims to reduce microorganisms on surfaces to safe levels, and one of the simplest, widely taught ways to achieve this is using hot water. When water is hot enough and left in contact with the surface for the appropriate time, it can kill or greatly reduce pathogens and helps rinse away soils that can shield microbes. Among the given choices, water only matches this sanitising approach because it represents the act of using a cleaning medium (hot water) to lower microbial load. The other options focus on cleaning without killing microbes (a detergent that only cleans), add irrelevant items (a flavouring), or imply mixing cleaning and disinfecting chemicals, which isn’t the standard single-step sanitising method in basic HACCP practice.