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Wood cutting boards are not safe. Since part of my training way way back was to earn a degree in a college course called Sanitation in Food. I remember the lesson. Today science knows that porus wood can not possibly be safe.
I can also add that in 2002 the KCMA asked every single cabinet manufacturer to discontinue offering a wood cutting board option on their base cabinets.
If IKEA still offers it then it is because they are not members of KCMA which means the product can not make minimum industry quality standards.
It's entirely separate from the study you so despise.
Basically, plastic or wood cutting boards (or counter tops) can both be used perfectly safely if you use them correctly.
On the other hand, overuse of antibacterial products is not only a possible contributor to the development of superbugs, but is evidently ineffective, to boot.
It's entirely separate from the study you so despise.
Basically, plastic or wood cutting boards (or counter tops) can both be used perfectly safely if you use them correctly.
On the other hand, overuse of antibacterial products is not only a possible contributor to the development of superbugs, but is evidently ineffective, to boot.
Here is the deal. Throw away all the studies. Lets just use some commn sense. Plastic is non porus and wood is porus. Technically nothing more need be said. But lets try this:
If Thelma was cutting a raw chicken on wood, washed it with the accepted mix of 50-100 PPM bleach to water solution which is the recommended mix by the National Restaurant Assn as the minimum standards to sanitize, if Thelma started next cutting lettuce on that board, would you feed that lettuce to your kids? Now keep in mind that kids do not have the immune system that adults have. Salmonella can be contracted by kids very easy. Hmmmm risky to answer huh.
This gets easier now. If Thelma cut raw chicken on a plastic board and improperly washed it with soap and water, then cut lettuce on it. Would you feed that lettuce to your kids?
The answer is that plastic is more sanitized in soap and hot water then wood is when properly sanitized with bleach solution. Simple as that.
Cross contamination is more likely to occur on untreated wood, grouted tiles or granite countertops then any other material. Plastics, laminates, solid surface (Corian) and marbles are the most food safe.
I wouldn't feed that lettuce to my kids from either board, actually - I have different boards for vegetables and meat.
And, sadly, there are studies that contradict what you consider to be logical (living with extremely logical people, I've learned, and eventually they have, as well, that if you start off with a wrong premise, logic is absolutely GREAT at getting you to exactly the wrong answer). Throwing away the studies because they don't agree with what you want to believe and you need to be RIGHT isn't the way to go about doing things, in my point of view.
I don't care about that wood cutting board debate. I just want to say congratulations on your new kitchen! It reminds me a lot of mine. Mine is not Ikea, but it's white and we already have the paint to paint the walls a lighter orangy color. I also love the unpretentious butcher block countertops.
I have a butcher block top on my island (existing kitchen, other countertops are raggety laminate-we will replace soon hopefully) and I have come to like it. I use the food-grade oil from Ikea...you do have to do it often, especially mine since it was apparently negelcted for years and was in fact covered with contact paper when we bought the house! We didn't even know it was under there-it's gorgeous wood!
Anyhow, I cut raw meat and veggies on washable cutting boards-but I cut most other stuff on the butcher block. I do dough on it too. And I so love how I can set down pans right from the oven on it. I find it cleans up easiest when it's well-oiled. I'm comfortable using the antibacterial wipes on it, although I usually just wipe it with a wet towel.
It seems to me that the easiest way to keep it clean is to keep it well oiled, and using wipes alot probably takes off the oil. Butcher block has some sort of natural antibacterial, so I would not worry alot about a non-cutting surface being too germy. It's certainly cleaner than my nasty laminate counters. I'm finding that now in winter, in a warm house, I have to oil more often-every couple weeks. You might try oiling your counter at least once a month.
We are just about to begin our Ikea kitchen. Off white cupboards and two will have glass doors. Also doing the beech countertop but I won't be using it for chopping.
Our kitchen is small with one north facing window, so quite dark. Off white cupboards and bright tiles will brighten it up. Will post before and after pics when finished.
I wouldn't feed that lettuce to my kids from either board,.
Then I wonder why you are telling others to. That just ain't right.
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