Hygiene

Hygiene refers to all practices and conditions designed to preserve health and prevent disease, mainly by eliminating or reducing pathogenic agents (bacteria, viruses, etc.). This includes :

• Personal hygiene: hand washing, tooth brushing, body care.
• Food hygiene: food preservation, cooking, cleaning utensils.
• Environmental hygiene: Water sanitation, waste management, cleaning of public spaces.
• Medical hygiene: instrument disinfection, sterilization, wearing gloves/masks.

Producing soap is done through a chemical reaction called saponification , in which a fat reacts with a strong base to form soap and glycerol. The reaction involves a nucleophilic attack by hydroxide ions on the ester bond of a triglyceride (fat) into glycerol and salts of fatty acids (soap).