Yuck: the average cutting board contains more bacteria than a toilet seat
Not the tastiest bit of news, sorry. Apparently, the average cutting board has more bacteria on it than a toilet seat. And not just any bacteria, but fecal bacteria. Holy shit, how disgusting…
Dr. Charles Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, researched how we humans contract diseases in our own homes. And according to him, the average cutting board contains 200 times as many fecal bacteria as a toilet seat. 200 times as many! If you still don’t feel the urge to immediately get rid of all your cutting boards, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Shitshow
No, those fecal bacteria don’t end up on the cutting board because we mistake it for a toilet. I hope, anyway. The bacteria come from raw meat and animals’ internal organs. So if you cut raw meat on your cutting board, there’s a good chance those fecal bacteria will be left behind. Lots of bacteria crawl into the grooves and cracks your knife leaves on the board.
Get rid of it
There are methods for getting your cutting board really clean. That means tackling stubborn substances, such as hydrogen peroxide. But honestly? You’re better off replacing your cutting boards regularly. Because no matter how well you scrub, scour and polish, it’s almost impossible to get all the bacteria out of those knife grooves. Another (very important!) tip: use different cutting boards for different ingredients. So use a separate cutting board for meat, a separate board for vegetables, and so on. That prevents cross-contamination.
Dirty kitchen
Your kitchen is a dirtier place than you think anyway. For example, Dr. Gerba also says that your dishcloth, which you use to dry your dirty hands and dishes, is 20,000 times dirtier than your toilet seat. But the dirtiest culprit of all is really the dish brush or kitchen sponge. That one is—hold on to your hat—200,000 times dirtier than your toilet seat. According to John Oxford, a virologist at the University of London and former chair of the Global Hygiene Council, as well. Forewarned is forearmed, I’d say…
Read also:
- Yvette van Boven’s tip: this is the best way to clean your wooden cutting board
- 8 noteworthy food facts that are useful to know for your own safety
- Are wooden spatulas unhealthy?
Source: BBC
