Bloom Electric Steam Steriliser

Details

An electric steam steriliser that takes six wide-neck bottles with their teats and collars, or a breast pump set plus three bottles. It uses 90 ml of tap water and eight minutes, then switches itself off. This is an electrical appliance before it is anything else, so it is tested to IS 302 Part 1, the general safety standard for household electrical appliances, at a NABL-accredited electrical safety laboratory. Earth continuity below 0.1 ohm, insulation resistance above 2 megohm, leakage current below 0.5 mA, a dry-boil thermal cut-out at 130 C and an automatic shut-off at the end of the cycle. Class I, three-pin earthed, 500 W on a standard 6 A Indian plug. On efficacy, the category's line is kills 99.9 percent of germs, with no organism and no contact time, which cannot be checked and therefore cannot be wrong. Here it is: a 6 log reduction of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus on inoculated coupons after 8 minutes at 100 C. And here is what that does not mean, which matters more. Steam at atmospheric pressure kills vegetative bacteria, fungi and most viruses. It does not kill all bacterial spores; that needs an autoclave at 121 C under pressure, and no kitchen appliance is one. So this is high-level disinfection and the word on every box in this category is the industry's word rather than a laboratory's. It also does not clean: a bottle with milk residue comes out warm, disinfected and still dirty, because steam does not dissolve fat. Wash first, always. And the 24 hours the lid buys you ends the moment you open it, because what recontaminates a bottle is room air and hands, not time. Capacity is stated in a way you can check against your own bottles: the usable internal height is 170 mm and the internal diameter is 250 mm. A tall narrow-neck bottle may fit four where a wide-neck one fits six.

• Six wide-neck 240 ml bottles with teats and collars, or a pump set plus three bottles. Internal height 170 mm, internal diameter 250 mm
• 8 minutes at 100 C, plus about 3 minutes to cool. 90 ml of ordinary tap water per cycle, measured with the cup supplied
• 6 log reduction of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus at 8 minutes, on inoculated coupons
• Tested to IS 302 Part 1 at a NABL-accredited electrical safety laboratory. Class I earthed, 500 W, 220 to 240 V, 50 Hz, 6 A plug, 1.2 m cord that stores in the base
• Dry-boil thermal cut-out at 130 C, so an empty run stops instead of ruining the element. Automatic shut-off at the end of every cycle
• Heating plate is 304 stainless. Body and basket are polypropylene to IS 10910, unpainted inside
• No tablets and no chemicals, so nothing to buy again and nothing to rinse off
• Contents stay disinfected for 24 hours if the lid stays shut, and for no time at all once it is opened with unwashed hands
• Descale monthly with 100 ml white vinegar and 100 ml water, one cycle. Hard water leaves scale, scale insulates the plate, and a scaled plate stops reaching temperature. This is not optional maintenance
• Honest position on how long you need it: routine sterilising of feeding equipment is generally advised up to about 12 months. After that a hot wash is usually enough, and this becomes a machine you own rather than a machine you use
• Honest trade-off, and it is a real one at this price: a large covered pan of boiling water for five minutes does the same job for nothing. What you are buying is eight minutes you do not have to watch, a lid that keeps things covered afterwards, and a counter-top thing that does not scald anybody. If that is not worth Rs 3,499 to you, the pan is a perfectly good answer and we would rather say so
• Two year warranty including the heating element. Lid, seal, basket and tongs all sold separately