US 2018/0235218 Al  10  Aug. 23, 2018  CONCLUSION  [0144]  It was possible to show that synergic compositions  containing organic acids are possible, with the best antimi› crobial efficacies being obtained in the case of compositions  containing at least three components.  [0137]  Thus, the difference between the two recipes is  merely the 6% benzoate and the resulting reduction factors  of recipe 7 containing acetic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid  [0136]  A comparison of recipe 7 with recipe 15 with  efficacy data on  Candida albicans  and  Staphylococcus  aureus  confirms the finding presented above.  [0135]  The comparison of Example 14 and Example 8  demonstrates that the efficacy synergism with four acids  leads to an even better pathogen reduction than three acids.  What is involved here is a comparable composition differing  only in a proportion of 6% sodium benzoate or 6% water.  Recipe 8, which is based on four acids as active ingredients,  achieves the maximum reduction (RF> 7) on  Mycobacterium  terrae  and  Staphylococcus aureus  within an exposure time  of 15 minutes at 3% application concentration. By contrast,  recipe 14 exhibits at this low concentration "merely" a  reduction factor of 4.95 on  Mycobacterium terrae  and  insufficient efficacy on  Staphylococcus aureus  (RF<5.0).  [0143]  Example 9, which already achieves a maximum  pathogen reduction on  Staphylococcus aureus  after an expo› sure time of 5 minutes, demonstrates that increasing the test  concentrations can also achieve distinctly faster exposure  times. Furthermore, recipe 16, consisting of 15% acetic acid  and 15% propionic acid and 13% sodium benzoate, shows  that a 5.5% application concentration can already achieve,  after an exposure time of 2 minutes, sufficient efficacy with  respect to  Candida albicans  and  Staphylococcus aureus.  Moreover, this recipe shows that, as a result of the use of the  corresponding acid salts, a good regulation of pH can be  used and the antimicrobial efficacy nevertheless remains  unchanged.  [0142]  In this connection, it is also surprising that an  increase in the content of sodium benzoate from 6% to 13%  in the presence of 15% propionic acid leads to a distinct  increase in efficacy with respect to  Staphylococcus aureus.  [0134]  The addition of 15% acetic acid significantly  increases efficacy again, as shown by the comparison of the  efficacy data of the  Candida albicans  screening. This  increase in efficacy is unexpected for a person skilled in the  art and confirms the synergism, since Comparative Example  V6, a significantly higher concentration of acetic acid in  application solution, exhibits no efficacy with respect to  Candida albicans  even at a relatively long exposure time.  [0133]  The results of Example 3 and Example 1 show that  substitution of 15% lactic acid with 15% propionic acid can  achieve a significant increase in efficacy on  Candida albi› cans.  What is crucial here is that, as a result of this  substitution, altogether four acids are used and no longer just  three, though instead in higher amounts. This is also con› firmed by Examples 6 and 7:  [0141]  The recipe of V9 containing the two acids acetic  acid and propionic acid can, however, also be compared well  with Comparative Example V2: recipe V2, consisting of  15% propionic acid and 6% sodium benzoate, exhibits  absolutely no efficacy with respect to S.  aureus  at 5%  concentration and exposure time of 45 minutes, but a  sufficient efficacy with respect to  Candida albicans  from 4%  and 30 minutes. If, then, these recipes, V9 and V2, are  combined to form 15% propionic acid, 15% acetic acid and  6% sodium benzoate, corresponding to Example 10, a  significant increase in efficacy with respect to S.  aureus  is  surprisingly found, according to which just a 3% application  dilution after an exposure time of 45 minutes, or a 4%  application dilution after 15 minutes, leads to a reduction  factor ofRF>7 .0. This improvement is highly unexpected on  the basis of the individual results.  [0132]  Recipe 14 involved a native pH of 0.86; recipe 15  involved a native pH of 1.57. In order to minimize any  influence on efficacy by deviating pH values, the pH values  were adjusted here by addition ofKOH(50%) to pH 2.25 and  pH 2.31, respectively. In the case ofrecipe 14, the necessary  amount of for this pH was 1 g ofKOH(50%); in the case of  recipe 15, this was just 0.8 g. The corresponding amount of  demineralized water was substituted in order to continue to  have 100 g of recipes. In order to be able to present a better  comparability in the overview, the recipe overview lists,  however, the amount as water, with a pH regulator being  noted.  [0140]  Comparative Example V9 merely contains 15%  propionic acid and acetic acid and exhibits, only as 5%  solution, a sufficient efficacy with respect to S.  aureus  after  45 minutes and, up to 5%, no efficacy on  Candida albicans  45 minutes. Recipe 13 corresponds to the composition of  Comparative Example V9; however, 6% water was replaced  here by tartaric acid. The direct comparison of Example 13  with V9 on  Staphylococcus aureus  shows an increase in  efficacy due to addition of tartaric acid to the existing  combination.  [0139]  The results of Example 1, 8 and 9 show that,  moreover, the combinations of the acids used can achieve a  sufficient efficacy against  Mycobacterium terrae.  [0131]  Composition 8, which has a native pH of 2.64,  corresponds to a composition containing 100 g and was  tested as 3% test solution. The pH-altered recipe 12 corre› sponds to 112 g and was consequently tested as 3.36%  composition. In order to be able to show a better compara› bility between the recipes and efficacies, the converted data  were, for recipe 12, stated as 100 g of concentrate and  accordingly 3% test concentrations.  [0130]  Recipe 12 corresponds in terms of the composition  to recipe 8, but was titrated with KOH (50%) to an elevated  pH of >5.0 in order to determine the influence of pH on  antimicrobial efficacy. Here, the consumption of KOH  (50%) was 12.0 g. Since the large amount of pH regu!a_tor  resulted in an increase in the total amount of the compos1t10n  from 100 g to 112 g and this consequently leads to a  reduction in the proportion of the acids, the application  concentration was increased in order to have the same  amount of active organic acids in the respective test solu› tions.  [0138]  Although the acetic acid in Example 1 is, in com› parison with Example 7, increased from 15% to 44%, the  absence of the 15% propionic acid appears to have the  greater negative influence on the efficacy with respect to  Candida albicans.  Moreover, the propionic acid brings  about a positive influence on solubility, as already described  under "Preparation of the concentrates and application dilu› tions".  and sodium benzoate are significantly better than those of  recipe 15 containing acetic acid, propionic acid and lactic  acid. 