You probably already know the basics of cleaning your cutting board — no matter what you slice dice or chop on it it usually leaves behind some residue that needs to be washed off. However if you cut or handle raw meat on a cutting board and don’t wash it right away you’re putting your health at risk. You should never put food on a cutting board that has just had raw meat on it.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
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Are Your Cutting Boards Making You Sick?
Raw beef poultry and even fish can leave bacteria on your cutting board once you eat it. This includes all the usual suspects you see in warnings about eating raw meat: salmonella E. coli listeria and more. If you remove the raw meat and immediately start cutting vegetables (for example) on the cutting board those bacteria can easily contaminate your food. At the very least the USDA says to thoroughly wash and sanitize your cutting board after touching raw meat on it. Of course using a separate cutting board for raw meat eliminates the risk entirely.
Raw meat should be kept separate from other foods you eat and many mistakes made with raw chicken or beef are cross-contaminating your other foods by storing them too close together or handling them with the same utensils. The only sure way to kill bacteria on meat is to cook it. Washing meat before putting it on a cutting board does not make it safe. If you wash something it is much safer to rinse the cutting board right after you are done with the meat.
To sanitize a cutting board immediately after handling raw meat rinse it with soap and hot water and disinfect it with a cleaning agent such as bleach or hydrogen peroxide (then rinse it again in hot water). There is some debate over whether wooden or plastic cutting boards are more hygienic; either should be fine but wooden boards require more thorough cleaning while plastic boards can go in the dishwasher if they are thick enough. Some cutting boards have “juice channels” running around the edges that can catch juices from raw meat making them easier to clean.
