Thanks, Michael.
There are two distinctions or meanings to define these two words, in a sense. They are classified in TWO catagories as follows.
1. Sanitize;
This means that your dishwasher, like Mike said, uses up to about 140 to 160-degree final rinse water to properly get rid of and kill most of the bacteria that are on the dishes, eating utensils, glasses, pots & pans or whatever else have you.
Even though the water is considered to be very hot or scalding hot, it's still not hot enough to sterilize the ware. And even though it's true that machine-washed dishes are generally with much more freedom from bacterial contamination than with dishes washed by hand, still all microscopic organisms in the water are not destroyed.
And there is no dishwasher on the face of the earth that can STERILIZE dishes that I know of. Even the ones used in restaurants, hospitals, schools and catering co's. They just santitize the ware in a minimum temp of at least 180 degrees set by the NRA and the NSF and Serv-Safe, along with local state health officials and agencies.
Years ago, KitchenAid made home dishwashers that sanitized dishes in 180-degree final rinse water. But because of the energy crisis and ways that the gov't is looking into to help aplliance makers make tougher energy saving large appliances, 155 to 160 has been considered to be the new standard for final rinse water in home dishwashers which is also approved by the NSF.
And this must take 20 minutes or more to do it successfully. Which is why my machine takes 20 minutes to successfully sanitize the dishes after heating the final rinse water to 140 degrees. Dishes mush be power-rinsed in that temp to destroy most of the bacteria and promote good drying.
2. Sterilize;
Means just that. Raising the temp of the clean final rinse water to its limit - 212 degrees.
This method is used mainly by dentists, hospitals and research labs to properly clean and "boil" surgical instruments. The things used during surgery and dental procedures are washed, rinsed and then placed in a pressure cooker of sorts.
This device raises the clean water temp inside to exactly 212 degrees for ten minutes to kill and destroyed ALL living bacteria and microscopic organisms that might have been on the instruments.
This same method is used at home when you boil the jars, utensils and lids
for canning. You MUST do this in order to destroy all known and unkown
bacteria!! Indusrial co's do it also when they jar spaghetti sauce, pickles, veggies and canned foods as well.
If you don't, then you are putting youself and your family in harm's way and setting them up for serious illnesses that could even cause death.
Unknown pathagens, spores, germs , bacteria and food-borne illness outbreaks could occur. You need either a waterbath canner or you can use a pressure canner for this method and for canning.
I hope that this post clears up any misconceptions between the two words.
~Corey123.
