Excellent straight dope - totally unconfused me about this massively confusing issue. The bit of humor injected into the article made it pleasurable to read.
I am a teacher by occupation and now have a new benchmark for teaching my classes. (that’s not a ‘gush’ is it?)
Thanks SD!
-LD
And the link is: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcuttingbd.html
Do people really prepare chicken and then use the same (inadequately cleaned) cutting board to prepare salad? I’ve never seen this happen.
“inadequately” is the key word here. People may “clean” the cutting board, but they won’t sanitize it. I wish home kitchens were subject to the same scrutinizing health inspections that our professional kitchens are.
And also, very accurate article, Hawk. Now I go to find these ruberized cutting boards you speak of…
OK, what’s a Ho-Ho?
Ho-Ho. A brand name of cheap “Swiss roll” baked good. It’s a thin chocolate cake, smeared with some sort of shelf stable imitation whipped cream that’s then rolled like a jelly roll and coated in a thin layer of chocolatish icing. Available in twin packs for 50 cents or boxes of 6 twins packs (or is it four?) for about $1.50. A staple of children’s lunchboxes and potheads munchies.
ETA: By the way, here’s a link to a website selling the rubber cutting boards mentioned in the article.
Wow. Only 25¢ per square inch.
People do it all the time, even people who know better. I know a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at a local high school, who definitely knows better, who will do it without thinking about it, or will think about it, then inadequately clean it anyway.
Note that adequate cleaning of the chicken board requires much more than soap and water.
I can honestly say that I’ve never washed either of my cutting boards (I use one for meat and one for veggies) with anything other than soap and water.
While I’ve made my share of “rush trips to the bathroom,” I don’t think I have ever done so after eating my own cooking.
I have recently started buying whole chickens and cutting them up at home, so I’m sure I spread a lot more chicken goo around the counter.
None of the sites or books I’ve used to work on my butchery mention anything specifically about using bleach or anything other than soap and water to clean up. (Each one mentions the importance of good kitchen habits, but none seem to warn against expecting soap and water to sufficiently clean up the counter, the cutting board, the knives, the walls, the ceiling, the windows, unwary children etc, etc.)
e.g:…cutting boards and knives must be washed in hot sudsy water after using and hands must be scrubbed thoroughly before and after handling [raw chicken].
I really like those Clorox Wipes. How do they rate in terms of sanitizing a cutting board after chicken?
After washing with hot water & soap? They might work on washed knives (be careful) but I’d like my cutting board to be immersed in bleached water for a few minutes at least. (Just my opinion)
Am I getting whooshed here. That’s $36 per square foot! I like at least 2 suare feet so that’s $72 for one cutting board. I bought a set of four thin-plastic ones for $12 minus a Bed Bath & Beyond 20% Off coupon.
Nope! However, the $.25 figure is for a custom board 1/2" thick.
The closest stock board they have to what you want looks like 4469-016-1331 (same link as above) 18" x 24" for $74.47.
The 36" x 96" goes for $613.78.
Same board, 1" thick: $1,012.51
That’s 67.7264 Years worth of SDMB!
