Your kitchen sponge - hostess of the most-est - 7 billion bacteria.
It's party season and did you know your kitchen sponge is the hostess of the most-est. The average kitchen sponge can play host to upwards of 7 billion bacteria.
Most of the bacteria comes from - surprise - food left on dirty dishes, especially raw foods like meat, poultry and veggies.
Want to know what you can do to make your sponge a less hospitable home for bacteria?
- Clean the sponge with soap and hot water after using it.
- Get rid of any visible food left on the sponge.
- Wring out the sponge as much as you can to get any extra water out. Store it in a place where it can dry out.
- Keep it away from the cutting board. You don't want the sponge you use to clean your dishes coming in contact with any juices from raw meats. Reach for a paper towel and some disinfectant instead.
- Some sponges today are designed to resist germs. Look for a sponge that says "resists bacterial odors" on the label.
- If your sponge stinks - that means bacteria's growing. But just because it doesn't smell bad, doesn't mean bacteria isn't growing. A good rule of thumb? Replace your kitchen sponge once a week.
Several articles say to disinfect a sponge, get it wet and microwave it for 30 seconds.
(Make sure it's wet enough, or it'll catch fire.)
That works better than bleach.
None of the articles talks about boiling the sponge, which I've done for years. Don't know why.
However, if you make it as dry as you can, and leave it to air, that helps considerably.
http://health.msn.com/womens-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100123457
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16796327/wid/11915773>1=8921
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423120145.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/health/27real.html