# Okay, is coronavirus teaching folks about rinsing dishes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 10, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512 "2020-04-10T16:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/21 "2020-04-11T15:28:23Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > 1. Of course there are microbes that can live in dry environments. They can survive in a dormant state, often by forming spores, but all organisms require water to have any sort of activity, and microbes need that water to be in their environment. It’s why if you test your bathroom your toothbrush will have a higher bacteria count than your toilet seat. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/22 "2020-04-11T16:18:33Z")
When someone shows me the data on how many people get sick from eating off washed dishes, soaped, rinsed, or not, then I will change my habits. Same with toothbrushes. Many habits of germaphobic Americans have nothing to do with danger, just folk wisdom and squeamishness. Covid 19 is a particular disease spread a particular way. When the danger of contracting it is past I won’t be wearing a respirator mask to the grocery store any more. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/23 "2020-04-11T16:34:08Z")
I don’t rinse dishes because I’m worried about germs. I rinse them because if I don’t, they taste like soap. And it didn’t take a disease to teach me that, either. I can’t fathom how anyone can not rinse their dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/24 "2020-04-11T17:12:12Z")
I bought a portable dishwasher fairly recently. Now I don’t care 🙂 This is an example of technology making people lazy, but in this case it’s worth it. It even saves on water. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/25 "2020-04-11T17:20:54Z")
I’m amused, in one of the linked threads, by the discussions between those who fill a pot/basin/half sink with hot soapy water, and those who soap each dish, or the sponge. Because I use both methods. If I am washing one or two dishes, or something large and awkward, I soap it or the sponge directly. If I am hand-washing a lot of dishes, I fill something with hot sudsy water. I think I’m being lazy in both cases. Also, I miss Maggie the Ocelot. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/26 "2020-04-12T09:24:41Z")
> [@naita](#): > > In a restaurant or cafeteria environment you might worry about bacteria, but the key to keeping them away isn’t rinsing, it’s doing the washing with hot enough water. No, in a restaurant, it’s washing, rinsing, sanitizing, and air drying. > **[How To Sanitize Dishes Food Safety When Cleaning And Drying Dishes](https://stopfoodborneillness.org/fft-clean-sanitize-disinfect/)** > > When it comes to food safety, knowing how to clean, sanitize, and disinfect dishes, utensils, surfaces, and other items that come in contact with your food is very important. Remove visible food, crumbs or dirt from a dish or surface, before you can... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/27 "2020-04-12T12:31:44Z")
Of course I rinse my dishes. My beer glasses in particular get multiple risings. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/28 "2020-04-12T12:36:23Z")
> [@naita](#): > > In a restaurant or cafeteria environment you might worry about bacteria, but the key to keeping them away isn’t rinsing, it’s doing the washing with hot enough water. Given that we’re discussing hand washing, there is no “hot enough” that’s relevant. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/29 "2020-04-12T12:47:36Z")
I have worked as a dishwasher in a cafeteria. We scraped and soaped by hand, arranged them on a rack, and sent them through the commercial washing machine twice. You can’t say those dishes weren’t rinsed. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/30 "2020-04-12T12:53:47Z")
I also worked as a dishwasher, in a bakery/coffee shop. When those dishes came out of the commercial washer they were hot enough to burn skin. Whole diffferent ball game. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/31 "2020-04-12T13:43:25Z")
Yeah, I have helped out using the commercial dishwasher at a camp. Scape 'em and load 'em in. They get sprayed, then sprayed with soapy water, then rinsed, and then heated to the point where you can’t touch them. We’d shove them out by shoving a new tray in, so we could keep the process moving, but them we’d have to wait for them to cool before we could unload the dishes and put them away. The heat was definitely how they were sanitized. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/32 "2020-04-12T14:04:31Z")
Yes, the heat is how they’re sanitized if washed by machine with a high temp setting. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/33 "2020-04-12T14:13:04Z")
Commercial washers sanitize, usually through heat and a sanitizing chemical rinse. Manual dish washing in food service finishes with a dip in a sanitizing solution and then air drying. Air drying is supposed to be safer than towel drying, I forget why exactly, but I think it’s because towels can transfer contaminants from dish to dish. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/34 "2020-04-12T14:20:43Z")
I’ve used dishes that were sanitized by “dipping in a sanitizing solution”. It was a beer booth in Germany. The glasses definitely tasted of the sanitizing solution. It wasn’t horrible, and I frequented that booth for food and drink every day I was there. But it absolutely imparted an undesirable flavor. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/35 "2020-04-12T19:37:53Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Given that we’re discussing hand washing, there is no “hot enough” that’s relevant. The thread title and the topic so far is “Okay, is coronavirus teaching folks about rinsing dishes?” ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/36 "2020-04-12T19:44:02Z")
> [@road\_lobo](#): > > No, in a restaurant, it’s washing, rinsing, sanitizing, and air drying. > > [How To Sanitize Dishes Food Safety When Cleaning And Drying Dishes](https://stopfoodborneillness.org/news-from-stop-clean-sanitize-disinfect/) I don’t think it’s wrong to say the key is the hot water. From your cite: “When you sanitize, you’re killing harmful germs with high heat or a chemical solution.” Rinsing is explicitly being described as necessary when sanitizing with bleach. “Rinse dishes very thoroughly in clean, hot water. You want all the soap removed because soap that makes its way into your chlorine bleach solution in Step 4 stops the bleach from sanitizing.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/37 "2020-04-12T21:11:19Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Given that we’re discussing hand washing, there is no “hot enough” that’s relevant. > [@naita](#): > > The thread title and the topic so far is “Okay, is coronavirus teaching folks about rinsing dishes?” I think it’s clear that we are talking about rinsing dishes that have been washed _by hand_ as opposed to by machine, which is what I thought Ruken meant by “hand washing.” (Dishwashing machines operate on a rinse cycle by default, so that’s not really much of a debate.) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512/38 "2020-04-13T13:05:43Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I think it’s clear that we are talking about rinsing dishes that have been washed _by hand_ as opposed to by machine, which is what I thought Ruken meant by “hand washing.” > > (Dishwashing machines operate on a rinse cycle by default, so that’s not really much of a debate.) Ah, that does make sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-is-coronavirus-teaching-folks-about-rinsing-dishes/851512.md?page=1)