Sterilization by Means of Hydrochloric Acid Vapour

As heat sterilization of glass bottles often results in breakage and of most plastic containers in deformation, we investigated a rapid low-temperature sterilization method as an alternative. Vapour evolving from hydrochloric acid was chosen because it does not leave toxic residues which might contaminate food packed in treated containers. Vapour evolving from 0.25 ml of 31% (w/w) hydrochloric acid reduced the number of viable spores of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in bottles (300 ml) by a factor of at least 2500 and that from 0.01 ml of 37% (w/w) hydrochloric acid reduced the number of mould spores by a factor of over 40 000 within 5 min at 20°C.