Cascade (brand)

Last updated

Cascade
Product type Dishwasher detergent
Owner Procter & Gamble
CountryUnited States
Introduced1955;71 years ago (1955) [1]
Website cascadeclean.com

Cascade is a brand of automatic dishwasher detergent manufactured by Procter & Gamble. Introduced in 1955, it is the most popular dishwasher detergent brand in the US. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

Cascade was developed by Procter & Gamble in 1955 as a specialized product for automatic dishwashers. Its creation stemmed from a business decision to differentiate the company's cleaning products. Before Cascade, the company had marketed Tide as a multi‑purpose detergent, including for dishwashing, but found Tide powder did not leave dishes sufficiently shiny. The company identified a market for a product specifically formulated for increasingly popular automatic dishwashers. [1]

The brand's formulation has evolved over time.A patent for an "automatic dishwasher detergent composition" that became part of the Cascade brand was granted to Procter & Gamble chemists Dennis Weatherby and Brian J. Roselle. The patent, issued on December 22, 1987, described a formula that included a class of dyes to give the detergent a lemon-yellow color without staining dishware and the dishwasher interior. [4] [5]

In August 2003, Procter & Gamble launched Cascade ActionPacs, a line of unit-dose detergent pods. The pods utilized two-compartment packets composed of water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film, designed to sequester liquid and solid ingredients until dissolution during the wash cycle. [6] In 2010, Cascade reformulated their products to remove phosphates (such as sodium tripolyphosphate) in response to environmental regulation and concerns about eutrophication of waterways. [7] [8]

Products

As of 2026, Cascade markets the following products in the US: [9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Conte, Annemarie (February 26, 2025). "How I Came to Love the Dusty Powdered Dishwasher Detergent of My Childhood". Wirecutter. The New York Times. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Cascade Safety and FAQ". Cascade Detergent. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  3. ↑ Blau, Max; Younes, Lylla (December 20, 2021). "The Dirty Secret of America's Clean Dishes". ProPublica. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  4. ↑ Cabrera, Claudio E.; Jacobs, Julia (February 24, 2019). "Seven Black Inventors Whose Patents Helped Shape American Life". The New York Times. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  5. ↑ "Dennis Weatherby". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  6. ↑ Hartman, Lauren (January 29, 2014). "Water-soluble pouches dish up convenience for Cascade". Packaging Digest. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
  7. ↑ McCoy, Michael (January 24, 2011). "Goodbye, Phosphates". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  8. ↑ "What Are Phosphates in Detergent?". Cascade Detergent. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Product Type by form". Cascade Detergent. Retrieved January 2, 2026.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.