When cleaning up blood, should you use cloth towels instead of paper towels?

The answer

The statement is False. You should use disposable paper towels, not cloth towels, when cleaning up blood. The reason is simple and central to OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard: blood can carry pathogens such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV, and the goal of any cleanup is to contain and remove that contamination without spreading it. Disposable paper towels can be used once and thrown straight into a biohazard bag. Reusable cloth towels do the opposite — they hold contaminated blood, then risk transferring those pathogens to hands, surfaces, laundry, and anyone who later handles them.

In a food-service setting this matters even more. Any surface where blood is cleaned up may later contact food or food-contact equipment, so the cleanup must eliminate the hazard rather than smear it around. Single-use materials that are immediately discarded are the only way to guarantee the contaminant leaves the area.

Why cloth towels are the wrong choice

A cloth towel used on blood is now contaminated. To reuse it, someone must collect it, launder it, and handle it wet — every one of those steps is an exposure opportunity. Even laundering does not make it a safe choice in the moment, because the soiled towel travels through hampers and hands before it is cleaned. Paper towels remove that entire chain: use, bag, discard, done.

The correct blood-spill cleanup procedure

A food-service blood-spill cleanup should follow a consistent order:

1. Stop food service in the area and keep people away from the spill.
2. Put on PPE — disposable gloves at minimum; add eye protection and an apron if splashing is possible.
3. Absorb and remove the blood using disposable paper towels, wiping from the outside of the spill inward to keep it contained.
4. Clean the surface to remove visible soil — disinfectants work poorly on top of organic matter.
5. Disinfect with an EPA-registered disinfectant effective against bloodborne pathogens, or a fresh 1:10 bleach solution (about 1 part household bleach to 9 parts water), letting it sit for the full contact time on the label.
6. Dispose of all towels, gloves, and contaminated materials in a labeled biohazard bag.
7. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after removing gloves.

The bigger picture

The cloth-vs-paper question is really a question about the hierarchy of controls: whenever a cleanup involves potentially infectious material, single-use disposable supplies are preferred precisely because they can be destroyed after one use. Fresh bleach solution is specified because diluted bleach loses potency over time, and disinfecting only works after visible blood is first removed. Remembering "disposable, discard, disinfect" keeps both the worker and the food-service environment safe.