You dry dishes with it, wipe your hands with it, and use it to wipe down the counter, but when you’re done—if you’re like me—you probably use your trusty kitchen towel for the oven or Hang on the dishwasher door handle. . And this cycle repeats for days, weeks, maybe even. months With a dish rag.
And yet, we all know that the kitchen is a perfect breeding ground for all kinds of potentially harmful germs. A dish towel, unfortunately, is not immune to this.
“Kitchen towels are contaminated with all the different bacteria, viruses, and fungi found in the kitchen,” says microbiologist Jason Tetro. The most amazing science show and author of Germ code And Germ files. These may include E. coli, Salmonellaand Campylobacter.
Germs grow on kitchen towels because there are microscopic pieces of food (cooked and uncooked) left on the dish towels you use.
“Simply put, food residue that ends up on kitchen towels is food for microbes, especially if the towel has been wet for a long time,” he says. Brian HedlundA microbiologist from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Exactly what is on your towels depends on how you use them and how you clean them.
“Dish towels will develop microorganisms as they are used, and the extent will depend on how they are used (soil/food types vs. just water, and how they are dried),” say Martin BucknavageFood Safety Specialist in the Penn State Department of Food Science.
How often should you wash kitchen towels?
How often you wash towels depends on how you use them. “For constant food preparation, cleaning and washing, Changing them every few days would be great,” says Tetro. “If they’re just there to dry hands and clean dishes, they can walk. About a week”
Bucknawage prefers dishwashing towels every day when they are used, especially when they get dirty.
How to wash your kitchen towels
Experts advise you to wash. Kitchen towels Separate from other laundry, so you can use hot water, soap, and preferably bleach to kill germs. Finish by drying them on high heat to help destroy any lingering microorganisms.
The temperature of the water and the type of cleaning products you use are also important.
“High temperature with detergents and oxidants (for example, Oxylene) will generally kill microbes more effectively than cold water, don’t use detergents, and don’t use oxidants,” Hedlund says.
When is it best to use paper towels?
Sometimes the spills are so dirty or the cleanup so sterile that you might consider reaching for paper towels. Although this is not the most environmentally friendly option, it can be a good choice in some situations. The choice of dish towel vs. paper towel depends on the person and the situation.
“For example, if cleaning something that is completely dirty, perhaps something that smells, has a high level of contamination, discolored dish towels, or dishes A towel can be more difficult to clean, so a paper towel is probably the way to go,” Bucknavage says. “Or if it’s an occasion where you don’t want to mess up a clean towel for just that one instance, a paper towel might be better. For example, wiping up meat juices that spill out of a package and into the fridge. Lying on the shelf.
And if you wipe up after eating raw meat or visibly dirty produce, clean the area afterward with disinfectant wipes or disinfectant spray and paper towels.