How to maintain a plastic cutting board?

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Maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in your home is critical if you want to stay safe from the viruses and bacteria that are plaguing this era. The kitchen is where all the food comes from, and this being the case, the number of viruses and bacteria here tend to be higher as well.

If human pathogens get into the food that you are preparing, and they can cause illness in people even if they do not naturally occur in the food itself. Surface to surface transmission is real, and human pathogens have different survival periods.

According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, foodborne bacteria can contaminate the following items in the kitchen: cutting boards, can openers, the countertop, scrubbing tools, sponges, brushes, refrigerators, etc.   

Keeping your kitchen clean has so many advantages:

1. Reduce the chances of cross-contamination.
2. Avoid foodborne illnesses that may affect not just you, but everyone in the family.
3. Extend the life of food as food that has been prepared in a hygienic environment will not spoil quickly.
4. A clean kitchen also looks more helpful, which will improve everyone’s mood.

People must begin to learn how to clean a plastic cutting board with baking soda, as well as how to clean cutting boards after raw meat. We’ll be talking about these steps and more in today’s blog.

1. Cleaning cutting board with baking soda – It has long been established that baking soda has strong antibacterial properties and can easily be used to remove bacterial contamination with the help of other decontamination agents like detergent and lemon juice.

   Plastic cutting boards can easily be contaminated when it already has plenty of knife marks on the surface. Since these boards are made of plastic, they are not as hard as granite or marble, and specific knife movements can damage the surface.

   To sanitize your cutting board, prepare a mixture of one tablespoon of pure baking soda, one tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, and one tablespoon of sea salt. Combine all three to make a paste. When the paste is ready, simply rub it all over the surface of the cutting board until everything is covered. Wait a few minutes to give the mixture time to disinfect the board. Rinse and pat dry.  

2. Using a cutting board whitener? – Cutting board whiteners can be a combination of any of the following: quats cleansers, bleach, detergent, and odor removers.

   You may use a cutting board whitener on your plastic cutting boards if you feel that your boards have too many stains. Cutting board whiteners usually come in large bottles (one gallon or more). Simply follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the label before using them for disinfection and cutting board whitening.

3. How to clean cutting board after raw meat – This is essential, because it is a well-known fact that raw meat harbors a lot of bacteria because of how they are exposed after slaughter. Salmonella and E. coli are especially rampant in all kinds of meat, but most notably in pork, beef, and poultry. The same applies to boards used for preparing fish and other types of seafood.

   There are two significant steps that you need to take to ensure that your cutting board for meat is safe for daily use. The first step is to wash it by hand with hot water and dish detergent.

   We emphasize using hot water because hot water naturally kills bacteria, and dish detergent finishes the job. Scrub the surface thoroughly and use enough dish detergent to lift out any meat particles and contaminants on the surface.

   The second step is to disinfect the plastic board with bleach. Add one tablespoon of pure bleach to a gallon of water. The resulting solution can be used to soak the plastic cutting board.

   You can also apply the solution to the surface of the board. Wait a few minutes before rinsing. Give the bleach solution time to work on any bacteria left over from the soap wash. After soaking the plastic board, rinse with water and dry.

4. Quick disinfection method with hydrogen peroxide – While we advocate thorough cleaning of kitchen tools and surfaces, sometimes, you just don’t have the time for that.

   If this the case for you and you are continually running for precious time, what we recommend is disinfecting your cutting board with hydrogen peroxide. 3% or 6% hydrogen peroxide can kill bacteria on contact.

   After washing your cutting board with hot water and soap, just douse the entire surface with pure hydrogen peroxide. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry or air dry. Your cutting board should be relatively clean enough to use again.

5. Keeping it natural – Sometimes, we run out of chemical cleaners at home, but we still need to keep our kitchen surfaces clean. To maintain hygienic conditions even without baking soda or bleach, you can use vinegar and/or a couple of lemons. Half a cup of white vinegar can be combined with one cup of water, along with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Not only is this solution effective in killing bacteria, but you have also combined two of the best deodorizers in nature: vinegar and lemon.

   For added effectiveness in killing bacteria and viruses stuck in the knife marks of chopping boards, you can also use half a lemon to scrub away at plastic boards. This technique is also recommended for people using wooden cutting boards, especially if the board is old.

   Sponges and bristle brushes are your best friends in keeping your cutting boards clean. Sponges, however, need to be replaced when they are worn out, and they also are adequately air-dried to keep them hygienic for use. It is imperative that you also make sure that all your kitchen brushes are clean and disinfected before the next use.