PURE Bioscience Completes Successful Field Test of PURE Hard Surface Disinfectant With Leading Quick Service Restaurant Chain

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - June 27, 2013) - PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE), the creator of the patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, successfully completed in-store field testing of its PURE® Hard Surface disinfectant/sanitizer by a leading worldwide quick service restaurant chain.

Testing was conducted twice daily over five days in six different restaurants and yielded approximately 1,000 data points comparing the efficacy of the chain’s current, quaternary ammonia-based sanitizer with that of PURE Hard Surface disinfectant/sanitizer. Areas tested included food preparation tables, produce slicing equipment, food preparation counters, customer transaction counters, dining tables, soda machines and ice dispensers.

PURE Hard Surface disinfectant/sanitizer achieved a 96% better reduction in overall contamination than the restaurant’s quaternary ammonia sanitizer (with standard deviation of 4%). For non-beverage dispenser use sites, PURE Hard Surface’s overall contamination reduction was 96% (+/- 3%) more effective. For beverage dispensers, it was 96% (+/- 6%) more effective with external nozzles and 98% (+/- 1%) more effective with internal nozzles. The testing also measured an overall contamination reduction from the interior of the ice chutes with PURE as 94% (+/- 4%) more effective than quaternary ammonia sanitizer.

Data collection methods included adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay, which provided a direct measurement of the biological contamination on the tested surface, as well as sampling for aerobic plate count (APC), yeast and mold.

The results demonstrated in this field test are supported by numerous third-party laboratory studies and validated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration in which PURE Hard Surface disinfectant demonstrated greater than 99.999% reduction in microbial counts. The full results of the study can be viewed on the company’s website here.

“As in all food service related markets, the quick service restaurant industry faces critical challenges regarding infectious disease control,” said Michael L. Krall, PURE Bioscience’s president and CEO. “The opportunity provided by this forward-thinking restaurant chain allowed us to compare our powerful yet low-toxic product head-to-head against the incumbent chemical sanitizer. This ‘real world’ field test confirmed that the introduction of PURE Hard Surface disinfectant and sanitizer into existing cleaning protocols can significantly mitigate the threat of contamination and improve overall food safety.”

In addition to quantitative results, the company recorded feedback from employees who participated in the field test. Employees consistently complained of rashes, dry skin, breathing irritation and general dissatisfaction in association with using the quaternary ammonia product and appreciated the opportunity to evaluate an alternative. After using PURE Hard Surface, employees expressed preferences for the test product based on ease of use, benign effect on hands, improved appearance of stainless steel, lack of unpleasant odor, and elimination of unsightly buckets and rags. The employees’ aversion to the current product and positive response to using the test product suggests that the benefits of the non-caustic and odorless formula of PURE Hard Surface disinfectant/sanitizer may lead to better compliance and increased frequency of use.

“In essence,” concluded Krall, “we’ve been able to demonstrate the powerful capabilities of our PURE Hard Surface in a real-world setting. We expect the greater public awareness of this data to accelerate the adoption of PURE Hard Surface in the food service and food processing markets as an effective and responsible disinfectant and sanitizer.”

PURE Hard Surface: Truly Responsible
A comparison of the EPA registered label and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for each product reveals notable differences in both the safety and the efficacy of the two products tested. The Hazardous Material Information System (HMIS) rating for PURE Hard Surface lists health hazard, flammability and reactivity ratings of zero, zero and zero, while the corresponding HMIS ratings for the quaternary ammonia product are three, two and zero. Also, as an EPA Category IV product, PURE Hard Surface is not required to provide first aid instructions or health hazard statements on its label. However, the quaternary ammonia concentrate is required to clearly state “DANGER” and carry mandated precautionary statements regarding the hazards to humans and animal health as well as extensive first aid instructions.

PURE Hard Surface: Highly Effective
In addition to the substantial difference in safety, the two products compared in this field-test have markedly different efficacy. Until now the food industry has been limited to products that only perform as “Sanitizers” (defined by the U.S. EPA as a product that reduces but does not eliminate microorganisms from a surface). As a “Disinfectant” (defined by the U.S. EPA as a product that destroys or irreversibly inactivates pathogens), PURE Hard Surface provides greater control of microorganisms and is approved for use on food contact surfaces. PURE Hard Surface provides complete disinfection efficacy with no rinse required in as few as 30 seconds up to two minutes, compared with the mere pathogen reduction offered by the quaternary ammonia sanitizer. Further, only PURE Hard Surface protects against the highly pathogenic and often food-borne Norovirus as well as CRE pathogens, the emerging class of drug resistant organisms. Perhaps most importantly, PURE Hard Surface is the only EPA registered Category IV disinfectant that provides residual protection for 24 hours.

About PURE Hard Surface
U.S. EPA-registered PURE Hard Surface disinfectant and food contact surface sanitizer provides an unparalleled combination of high efficacy and low toxicity with 30-second bacterial and viral kill times and 24-hour residual protection. SDC-based PURE Hard Surface completely kills resistant pathogens like MRSA and Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (NDM-1) and also effectively eliminates dangerous fungi and viruses including HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Norovirus, Influenza A, Avian Influenza, H1N1 and Human Coronavirus as well as hazardous food pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter. PURE Hard Surface delivers powerful broad-spectrum efficacy while remaining classified as least-toxic (Category IV) by the U.S. EPA, and its active ingredient, SDC, has been determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for use as a biocide on food processing equipment, machinery and utensils.

About PURE Bioscience, Inc.
PURE Bioscience, Inc. develops and markets technology-based bioscience products that provide solutions to numerous global health challenges, including Staph (MRSA) and Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)/NDM-1+. PURE’s proprietary high efficacy/low toxicity bioscience technologies, including its silver dihydrogen citrate-based antimicrobials, represent innovative advances in diverse markets and lead today’s global trend toward industry and consumer use of “green” products while providing competitive advantages in efficacy and safety. Patented SDC is an electrolytically generated source of stabilized ionic silver, which formulates well with other compounds. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from competitors in the marketplace because of its superior efficacy, reduced toxicity and the inability of bacteria to form a resistance to it. PURE is headquartered in El Cajon, California (San Diego metropolitan area). Additional information on PURE is available at www.purebio.com.

Forward-looking Statements
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