Bacteria study on sponges has us reaching for oldschool towels

Time to find ‘retro’ solution to kitchen need

Here’s a disturbing thought: your trusty kitchen sponge may be the second grossest item in your house, containing more bacteria than the toilet. Yuck. This is the news from a Popular Science report, which notes it is time to toss aside the idea that zapping one’s kitchen sponge in the microwave actually cleans the sponge.

The magazine notes that kitchen sponges contain the second highest load of coliform bacteria in the house, coming in behind drain traps.

It gets worse.

Popular Science spoke to the author of a study in Germany, Markus Egert, who noted that the density of bacteria on a sponge had a similar microbial density as a stool sample. That is unsettling. So if you aren’t supposed to nuke your sponge, what can you do to clean it? Experts aren’t sure. For now, the best bet may be to throw away your sponge once a week, and replace it.

Several online forums suggest cutting a new sponge in half to make it last longer, claiming that a full-sized sponge isn’t necessary. Might we suggest one other idea? This might sound a little retro, but one could always use kitchen dishtowels again, and wash them on a regular basis. If the towel comes into contact with raw meat, it should head straight to the washing machine.

The bacteria experts at the University of Arizona recommend washing kitchen towels after each use. Or dip them daily in a diluted bleach solution and let them dry — but they still need to be washed once a week.

Clorox recommends not using sponges to clean up after any raw meat or eggs, but instead recommends using paper towels and bleach to clean up food prep areas. As for cleaning a sponge, the bleach company recommends soaking them for five minutes a day in a bleach and water solution before rinsing and drying them.

Let’s face it — we co-exist with bacteria. Some can make us sick, some won’t.

But when it comes to the device we use to clean dishes, we may want to err on the side of caution.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?

The High Schools are back in session. The athletes are given a fist full of tickets to sell. My door bell rings often and a male student says “Do you want to buy a ticket?”

Cannot the someone who gives them the tickets to sell teach them how to make a sale?

The student looks discouraged, probably told no many times and then the parents buys most of the tickets.

Schools teach, students learn but this is one opportunity schools have missed for many years.