how healthy is your kitchen?

Patricia Carroll, RN,BC, CEN, RRT, MS

To see this interview click here

Is your kitchen healthy? I don’t mean is it run down, or sneezing, or not getting enough sleep. Perhaps the better question is: Are the surfaces in your kitchen transferring bacteria to your food that could cause illness? Many people have a sparkling clean kitchen, but that doesn’t mean the bacteria are at bay – they’re microscopic and can be lurking even if your kitchen looks clean. Here’s how to keep your kitchen clean and healthy.

Two of the most potentially dangerous kitchen tools are right at the end of your arms – your hands. Bacteria can be transferred from raw poultry to your hands, for example. If you don’t wash those bacteria will make themselves right at home in your uncooked salad as you tear the lettuce with your hands.

I’ll bet you never really thought about the correct way to wash your hands. Here are some tips from Nursing 101:

• Turn on the faucet and adjust the water so it is warm
• Dampen your hands and then suds up with soap
• Sing (to yourself, please) two choruses of Happy Birthday, or one full rendition of Yankee Doodle – keep rubbing and washing those hands for at least 15 seconds. (I used to make my students sing out loud just for fun so they could see how long 15 seconds really is -- most people don’t wash their hands for nearly that long.)
• Rinse your hands under the warm water
• Dry your hands with a fresh paper towel -- not a dishcloth!
• Now – here’s the key step – after you have dried your hands, turn off the faucet with the paper towel – do not touch the faucet with your freshly washed hands!

If you turn off the faucet with your hands, you’ll touch the bacteria you just washed off, and the handwashing will have been a waste of your time. As an extra precaution, if I have been handling raw poultry or meat in particular, I will pull out one of those handy disinfecting wipes from Lysol and wipe off the faucets as an extra safety measure before I move on to the salad.

You don’t need to use antibacterial soap. We don’t automatically use it in the hospital unless we are in a high-risk area. Antibacterial soap can be very irritating… and cracked skin is more likely to harbor bacteria – particularly if you are washing your hands 20 times a day! The key to good handwashing is the friction – rubbing your hands together and rubbing with the soap lather on every surface – the palms, the back of the hands, and between the fingers. For the dirt on antibacterial soaps, click here

Another option is for you to wear gloves while you’re stuffing the turkey, making meat loaf, or any food preparation you want to do with your hands that could get messy. You can buy disposable gloves in any office supply store. They will protect your hands, and you can toss them in the trash when you’ve finished a single task. Just as a precaution, wash your hands, too – the gloves aren’t completely impenetrable to bacteria.

There are three bacteria magnets in your kitchen – your sponge, pot scrubber, and kitchen towel. The easiest way to spread germs everywhere is to use a towel to mop up the drippings from the raw turkey, and then wipe your hands on the same towel, as you make the salad and serve the appetizers. I got rid of my kitchen towels years ago – it’s recycled paper towels for my kitchen. It’s just safer. Of course, if you have so many towels that you can use each just once for wiping your hands, have at it – for me, paper towels are far more sanitary and convenient.

The sponge and the pot scrubber are also perfect homes for bacteria. They get splashed because they are kept near the sink, and they come in contact with dirty counters and dirty dishes. Moist, porous sponges are even more hospitable to germs than a hard, nonporous countertop. You can minimize your risk without breaking the bank – whenever you run your dishwasher, just drop sponges and pot scrubbers into the little basket for small items. They’ll get disinfected that way. No dishwasher? Throw them in the washing machine with hot water and detergent.

Cutting boards are another place that bacteria like to hang out. First, you should have multiple cutting boards – never use the same cutting board for raw meat, poultry or fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Think of it like this – set aside one cutting board for ready-to-eat foods like salads, snacks, and bread. Use it for nothing else.

Sanitize your cutting boards by putting them in the dishwasher after every use. If you don’t have a dishwasher, the FDA suggests an alternative sanitizing solution of 5 milliliters of chlorine bleach to one liter (1000 milliliters) of water. That’s about a small capful of bleach to a quart of water. Rinse the cutting board with this solution, then pour the rest down the drain to sanitize the sink, too.

To make your life easier, there are now disposable cutting boards. Use them once and toss them in the trash. You won’t have to worry about clean-up, and the Cut & Toss cutting boards are also flexible, so you can chop vegetables on them, for example, and then use the "cutting board" as a funnel to pour what you’ve chopped into a bowl or pan on the stove.

For more tips on holiday cooking, turkeys, and leftovers, click here

For more information, follow these links from the FDA:

The Unwelcome Dinner Guest: Preventing Foodborne Illness

Written: November 2002, updated September 2003

Reviewed: May 2004