Dirtiest Things in Your Kitchen You Might Not Know
Even if your kitchen looks sparkling clean, you can never be sure that it is really clean. Bacteria and germs could be everywhere, often in places that you least expect them to be. They can contaminate your food and could eventually give you serious health problems if you will do nothing about it.
With proper awareness, you could be more cautious and give your best in cleaning some of the dirtiest things in your kitchen and prevent bacteria and germs from thriving.
5 Dirtiest Things in Your Kitchen and How to Clean Them
1. Refrigerator Handle
The refrigerator door handle is perhaps one of the most frequently used things in your kitchen. Dr. Eric E. Schadt, Pacific Biosciences head scientific officer said, microbes from meat products and other things kept in the refrigerator thrive in refrigerator handle. And every time you open your refrigerator door, these microbes can transfer to your hand.
As a preventive measure to avoid further spread of these microbes to your food and other surfaces in the kitchen, proper hand washing is a must. Make sure to properly wash your hands before and after holding refrigerator door handle. Make sure also to always wipe it with a disinfectant or alcohol at least twice a day.
2. Dish Towels
Dish towels are no exception to germs and bacteria even if you are just using them to wipe dry your utensils and dishes. After they are used, the towels remain wet. This is a perfect breeding ground for microbes that are already present in your kitchen.
It will be a good practice to use different sets of dish towels every day. At the end of the day, wash the towel that you just used and let it dry in high heat.
3. Sponges
If you think that your sponge is free of microbes because it is frequently used with a dishwashing soap, you are seriously mistaken. In fact, it is one of the dirtiest things in your kitchen. And to make matters worse, many people use the same sponge in cleaning their kitchen sink and in washing their dishes. Doing this is like wiping out the bacteria and germs from your sink and then spreading them to your dishes or vice versa.
The best thing that you should do is to buy separate sponges for cleaning the kitchen sink and for washing dishes. Also, at the end of the day, wash the sponges thoroughly with bleach or water with vinegar and dry it with high heat. Also, change your sponges as often as possible.
4. Kitchen Sink
Your kitchen sink may be dirtier than your bathroom. This is a fact many people don’t know about. Because food preparation and cooking are usually done in the kitchen sink, it is important to keep it as clean as possible.
Wipe your sink with soap using a sink sponge and rinse before and after preparing and cooking food. At the end of the day, clean it again with soap. Rinse then wipe dry. When it’s already dry, you can sprinkle it with a generous amount of baking soda to discourage cockroaches, ants and bacteria from invading the sink.
5. Chopping Board
The chopping board is a favorite breeding ground of germs and bacteria especially if it is not thoroughly washed after being used. These bacteria and germs could transfer to the food you are preparing every time you use it.
To reduce the chances of bacterial contamination in your food, it would be a good practice to have a separate chopping board for meat and for vegetables or fruits. Also, clean your chopping boards after every use with vinegar and a generous amount of baking soda. Vinegar and baking soda are excellent disinfectants that can kill germs and bacteria.
Microbes are invisible to the naked eye but it doesn’t mean that they are not there. The only way to keep them away from your kitchen is to always maintain cleanliness and to observe the proper way of cleaning items in your kitchen.