Thursday, December 6, 2007
Culinary Sanitation
Are you worried about nasty little pathogens living in your kitchen? WELL YOU SHOULD BE!The kitchen usually has the second greatest amount of bacteria in the home, following only the bathroom. However, you don't keep food in your bathroom... hopefully.
And as your mom could surely tell you, there are a few easy steps you can take to reduce the risk of food born illness.
1. Replace your sponge often! Kitchen sponges are quickly colonized by enough bacteria to start a biolab. As such, make sure to replace yours pretty often, especially once it starts to smell like a lake (believe us, that what it smells like! go take a whiff!)
2. Soap and water do the trick! As long as you regularly replace your sponge, soap and warm water suffice to clean your kitchen; you don't really need to use the lysol/409/fantastik unless you're cleaning up after eggs or raw meat.
3. When in doubt, throw it out! This pertains to leftovers- when you're not sure if something is still ok to eat, it's safer to just toss it. Or at least recook it somewhat.
4. Cook thoroughly! While on the subject, it is wholly important to cook all your meat completely- viruses, bacteria, and worms can live in meat even if its frozen, but are all killed by cooking.
5. Wash your fruits and veggies! Because we often don't cook fruit or vegetables, they are usually the cause of food poisoning. The only precaution against this is to wash your produce thoroughly with water (not soap) and if inclined- a solution of 1 part white vinegar and 3 parts water kills 98% of bacteria according to Cooks Illustrated.
These simple tips coupled with normal housekeeping should keep your kitchen a healthy place to cook. What you cook, however, is up to you. Dontcallmom really can't offer much advice there... So here are some ladies who can:
Martha Stewart(duh) and Amy Sedaris, comedienne, cook, and crafter.
Cd at 6:11 PM
