A Des Moines commercial custodial company has been ordered to pay a $75,000 penalty and provide refunds for making false COVID-19 cleaning claims. Iowa Attorney General, Tom Miller, reports the settlement with Heritage Group, Heritage Microbial Control, LLC, SPMC and Joseph Johnson must comply with those terms of the agreement and also refrain from claiming that their antimicrobial cleaning process provides long-term protection to surfaces from the coronavirus, unless such claims are approved by the appropriate federal and state authorities. “As the pandemic began, we shared concerns that companies would try to sell cleaning services based on unfounded claims to prevent the coronavirus, wasting Iowans’ money and potentially harming their health,” Miller says. “We are pleased to come to a resolution with Heritage Building Maintenance and to finalize the agreement that refunds customers and puts an end to these claims.” In the summer of 2020, Miller’s Consumer Protection Division opened an investigation into the company’s claims that Test-Treat-Track, their three-step antimicrobial cleaning process, would provide long-lasting prevention or mitigated transmission of the coronavirus on surfaces. They also referred to it as “science-proven microbial control” and it was licensed to the company. This was sold to approximately 65 Iowa customers at more than 200 locations within the Des Moines metro area that included schools, medical facilities, municipalities and large employers. Johnson and the companies denied any wrongdoing in the case.
