The boards were used daily in households for normal food preparation. This includes the cutting of bread, fruit, vegetables, meats, chicken and citrus fruits.

The durability test, involving the cleaning of the boards, was carried out by placing the boards in the dishwasher together, with all other household dishes and the usual dishwasher tablets. No special cleaning process was applied and the boards endured over 1,000 dishwasher cycles.

Testing these boards according to the ISO22196 protocol, which verifies antibacterial activity of plastics and other non-porous surfaces, proved their antimicrobial property was unchanged. In fact, the used boards demonstrated the same antimicrobial performance as brand-new ones.

In addition, the results prove a reduction of E.coli - a Gram-negative strain - at a level of Log 2.3 / 99.5 per cent, while a reduction of more than Log 5.1 / >99.999 per cent was found for Staphylococcus aureus - a Gram-positive strain.

'These tests clearly confirm our technology is an intrinsic part of the material and is not migrating under the harsh conditions of a dishwasher,' commented Michaël van der Jagt, CEO of Parx Materials. 'Withstanding 1,000 dishwasher cycles without losing effectiveness is a tremendous milestone, setting new standards.'