What's a good way to disinfect the cutting board?!


Question: I kneaded my bread dough on the cutting board, and the resulting bread had a sour taste. Which probably means the dough acquired unwanted germs from the cutting board. I always wash my cutting board, once with cold water so food pieces don't cook and stick to the board, and with hot water and detergent the second time. Apparently, this is good enough for regular food but not if I want to work with dough on it. Is there a better way to take care of the cutting board besides regular washing and keeping it dry?

Answers: I kneaded my bread dough on the cutting board, and the resulting bread had a sour taste. Which probably means the dough acquired unwanted germs from the cutting board. I always wash my cutting board, once with cold water so food pieces don't cook and stick to the board, and with hot water and detergent the second time. Apparently, this is good enough for regular food but not if I want to work with dough on it. Is there a better way to take care of the cutting board besides regular washing and keeping it dry?
To disinfect and clean your wood cutting boards or butcher block countertop, wipe them with full-strength white vinegar after each use. The acetic acid in the vinegar is a good disinfectant, effective against such harmful bugs as E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus.
Yes. I'm afraid of the bleach solution also.
I believe we get enough chemicals In us as It Is.
But with vinegar, We use It on a lot of our meals.
So I'm not too worried about It.
Thanks for the compliment. Bob. Report It

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  • Lindata's Avatar by Lindata
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    • Lots of people keep a spray bottle with a solution of bleach to clean the board with. But you seem to be doing more than this with your double wash. Try the same recipe using parchment paper and see if it does the same thing.
    Are you sure it wasn't the dough itself, maybe its the ingredients you put in the dough that makes it sour... I've always just rinsed and washed with soup detergent and the board comes great, so I don't think it was the boards problem
    The best way to disinfect is to scrub the thing with that metal wool type scrubbing sponge, with strong detergent. Let it drip dry, and dry it out in an oven until bone dry. the moisture that stays trapped in the wood has all the germs and bacteria.
    If its a wooden board use a light bleach water solution on a clean washcloth and just wipe clean.

    If its plastic soak your board for 10 mins at max in a solution of Bleach and water as well.

    If its glass same as above.

    Good luck, and also before using your boards to kneed dough on you might just want to rinse it off just in case its aquired anything.
    What I do Is this for my wood cutting board.
    I wash with hot water, Dry well, Then take your Vinegar bottle and shake some all over, Take a couple of paper towels and wipe the vinegar off until the board Is dry.
    ( It works for me!!)
    Restaurants use a bleach and water mixture. It takes about 1/2 a cap-full of bleach for abut 4 gallons of water. The chlorine content is checked and needs to be 50 - 100 ppm. This solution is non-toxic and will kill germs on contact.

    Quaternary tablets are also used. 200 ppm is desirable to sanitize cooking surfaces. Test strips are used to check both this and the bleach solution.

    Restaurants are not allowed to use wooden cutting boards or counter tops. The exception would be wooden counter tops used in a bakery department and only used for working with dough. The bleach and quaternary methods work for wood, too.

    The health department recommends sanitizing any piece of kitchen equipment using this method:

    1) Wash
    2) Rinse
    3) Sanitize with a sanitizer solution
    4) Air dry
    Use Lysol Food Surface Sanitizer and hot water.
    Keep a spray bottle of 10 parts water, 1 part vinegar nearby and when you're done cooking, spray the board with it, scrub and rinse.


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