There are specially treated/manufactured sponges which do not provide bacteria with a substrate. Of course, if you don’t clean the sponge after use, the stuff you’ve mopped up with it will be in there, giving the bacteria a wonderful place to grow. Not that dishcloths are all that wonderfully better. They can easily grow quite aromatically sour. So, what ya wanna bet that non-stinky dishcloths aren’t supporting a population?? (Hint: don’t bet more than you can afford to lose! Most of the persistent bacteria in the kitchen - and bathroom - are ones which are resisitant to desiccation)
The best solution is frequent cleaning of the item, regardless of which you use. And I agree with others above; the sponge in the dishwasher idea is outstanding!
Dishwashers don’t get hot enough to sterilize anything: sponges, baby bottles, whatever. You can throw the sponge in the dishwasher, but the heat won’t kill any bacteria in it. The bleach in the detergent may have an effect, but to truly sterilize a sponge you either need a thorough bleach soak or high heat as in the microwave.
I actually have only done this maybe twice in my lifetime because of how infrequently I use my dishwasher. I consider it a huge waste to run two major appliances (dishwasher + water heater) for 45 minutes just to clean a half dozen plates and a handful of silverware that I could wash all by hand in less than 5 minutes.
Having said all that, when I do run the dishwasher I usually open it up after the wash cycle and let the dishes air-dry. Since they’re still hot, they dry in a few minutes and that beats the heck out of running a heating element for a half hour.
Just don’t pick the sponge out and try to hand-wring the steaming hot water out of it!
Actually, that heating element you see on the bottom is used for the heated drying cycle. The element that heats the water is out of sight in the guts of the machine.
But nitpicking aside, the hotter water (too hot for a human washing dishes) is indeed part of the reason dishwashers work so well.
True.
In simple terms and short words, sanitizing means to kill most bacteria. Sterilizing means to kill all microorganizms. At home, this is neither necessary nor gentle on your dishes.
Unless you’re so immune-deficient that you have to be laminated in plastic, sanitizing is more than enough.
A sterile kitchen is impossible. But wouldn’t it make sense to concentrate ones efforts in simply washing the things away? The sponge might be germy, but if you wipe the countertop into the sink, aren’t you essentially pushing the germs into the sink where you can wash them away? That’s the general point of cleanliness - reduce bacterial load and wash off the things they like to eat. The fact that your sponge may have some germs in it is pretty irrelevant, as everything in your house does.