May we discuss Cutting Boards ?

chocolate moose

chocolate moose

New member
It seems as though my old plastic ones are very cut up and most probably harbor unsafe bacteria. Target's teeny ones are $5 and while I bought one, I returned it the next trip - how do i know the same thing won't happen to it?

I don't want wood as it's not dishwasherable. Glass'd be okay if I could find a small, unbreakable one.

I need to buy a few so they can be washed and I'm not left stranded.

Anyone ?
 
I'm glad you brought this up. I have often wondered if I should be having different cutting boards for cutting meats, bread, veggies. My cutting boards are really cut to shreds from using very sharp knives. Aside from ugly, I'm sure they harbor bacteria in spite of scrubbing with stiff brushes and hot, soapy water. We need a food safety expert's opinion for this one. (I'm too lazy todayto Google the answers.)
 
If you don't want wood you wouldn't want a Sani-Tuff rubber board either. You'll dull your knives fast with glass and marble. If you need something dishwasher safe get yourself some plain, unpainted, poly boards like the thin flexible ones available everywhere. Yes, they cut fairly easily but they'll last a surprisingly long time if you don't mash the knife edge into them and they're inexpensive so replacement won't break the bank.
 
I now use two brands of cutting boards. Cherry wood made custom by The Board Smith, with David Smith who posts here from time to time. I've purchased 4 boards from him over the years. A 16" x 22" x 2" thick, 16" x 3" thick round board, a 24" x 3" thick round board for my son and his wife as well as one of his side grain cheese/bread boards. I cut almost everything on it except raw meats, for that I have a 15" x 20" x 3/4" thick sani tuff board. I simply wipe my wood boards down with vinegar/water solution after use and keep it waxed with a bees was/mineral oil solution. The wood boards will easily last me a life time I'm sure.
 
JoeV said:
I'm glad you brought this up. I have often wondered if I should be having different cutting boards for cutting meats, bread, veggies. My cutting boards are really cut to shreds from using very sharp knives. Aside from ugly, I'm sure they harbor bacteria in spite of scrubbing with stiff brushes and hot, soapy water. We need a food safety expert's opinion for this one. (I'm too lazy todayto Google the answers.)
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Clean them with a bleach solution.
 
Mine has the groove on the 16x22 but looked about the same when new. It will darken over time, mine sure did and I like even better now.
 
3rd + for the Boardsmith's cutting boards. If you care about your knives, wood and sani-tuff are your only choices. With the wood boards, be very careful. While wood is generally wood, the glue used is VERY important. That's why bamboo boards are bad. Not the bamboo but the glue they use. Even Boos boards chipped some of my knives, but my problems went away when I got a board from Dave.
 
buzzard767 said:
Clean them with a bleach solution.
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Clorox Anywhere.

It's a light or mild sanitizing spray that kills germs and bacteria on cutting boards, counertops or anywhere else that food might come in conact with.

It won't hurt or contamimate the food, so it is safe to use around food. I have some. A stronger spray would be Lysol Kitchen Spray, but I don't think that one can be used around or near food. I have that as well.

That one is mainly for after having washed the countertops or table when poultry, beef or pork was prepared for cooking, as well as certain veggies. Both of these spray should be able to kill the Ecoli bacteria and Salmomilla bacteria.

But Chocolate Mouse, I think that your best bet IS to get the plastic one(s), because the 2 sprays that I mentioned above can help keep bacteria and germs at bay while you prep the food, and you might also wish to look into getting maybe a few in different colors so that you can know which one to use for which food.

Then when you're done, you can say goodbye to the germs and bacteria for good because you can just pop them into the dishwasher.

You wouldn't want to cut veggies or fruit on the same board that you've cut meat on. The plastic ones are also, like you said, machine washable.

Glass might be ok, but in addition to it possibly breaking, it has also been said to dull the knives.

Wood is good, but over time, even the hand washings can eventually cause it to warp and lose its natural look. But it CAN be sprayed with a mild sanitizer. The best wooden one to get, I think, is the maple ones. They can be sanded and resoak with mineral oil.

I hope this helps you. :chef:
 
I use an un-oiled homemade maple board for everything but raw meat. I use one of those white sani plastic boards for raw meats, it either gets hand washed or goes in the dishwasher after use.
 
+1 I have never oiled my wooden board and it's in great shape. Wooden cutting boards have been proven by research to be more sanitary than plastic boards: PLASTIC AND WOODEN CUTTING BOARDS. Chicken needs to be heated to 160 degrees to kill all the bacteria, and I think it's rare to find home dish water, whether in the dishwasher or the sink, that's heated that high. But the theory is that wood sucks the moisture out of the bodies of bacteria and kills them that way.

I spray my board, as well as my counters, with a mix of vinegar, lemon juice, and water to sanitize them. Saves a ton of money not having to buy a variety of commercial sprays. I also have extra boards, both resin (I think) and wood that I generally use for carrying small amounts of cut veggies to the stove (my peninsula where I do most of my cutting is not right next to the stove).
 
My favorite subject! May I add?

Glass is wonderful to cook on but a lousy cutting surface. It will roll the edge of even the lowest quality knife in an instant. You might as well use the surface your concrete driveway.

Bamboo is hard with an extraordinary amount of glues and resins used. As well, this glue and resin is hard on the knife edges.

Some of the national manufacturers use a resin hardener on their boards which is tough on a good edge. The hardeners are meant to prevent the fuzzy raised grain that can be felt on a wood board after washing.

Plastic, IMHO, isn't much better. The deep scars left by knife edges can harbor bacteria even after washing in the dishwasher.

Wood is accepted as a decent cutting surface because of its forgiving nature. Edge grain will suffer because the cuts left will have to be sanded out after a period of time. End grain is the best because it is more forgiving to the edge and there isn't any severed grain after cutting. (That is unless you are chopping with a cleaver while trying to sever heads from a carcass.)

I'm not so sure of the anti-bacterial properties of wood which I will defer that to the microbiologists and their studies. However, I do know that washing with a good dish washing detergent and using a disinfecting spray will go a long way to keeping your cutting surface as sanitary as you can make it. You can't get everything but you can get most of the bugs. Using multiple boards will help with sanitation but this can become very expensive and for those of us who are memory challenged, this too could be a trouble spot.

Be careful of the wood used. There are several out of the USA made boards that are lacking in quality. BB&B has acacia boards but choose carefully. You will see a lot of voids, checks, cracks and knots on the cutting surface that have been filled with filler. Rubber tree is another to look out for. Related to maple, it is used and is called several different names. Very cheap, it is sold in discount stores for a low price.
 
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What do you suggest as the superior material for cutting foods on?

Seems everything has a drawback of some kind, rewsulting in either damaged knives or germs and bacteria.
 
I have a wooden board. Not an expensive one. I cut everything, but, meat on it. I cut meat on a plastic boad. My hot water heater is set to make really hot water, Never checked the temp, good idea though. While the dishwasher may not achieve 160 degrees, you then have to factor in the dish washing soap and the drying heqt, it you use it. I am comfortable with the dishwasher being able to sanitize.

I wash the wood board with soap and water. I do use food Grade Mineral oil. I am not organized about when, when it looks like it needs it. The board does warp occasionally, Then I turn it over. a few days later, it is flat again.

I have a few plastic (Nylon) boards that I use depending on the size I need.

GotGarlic, what ratio do you mix the vinegar / lemon / water in? That sounds like a good idea.
 
Dave (Boardsmith),

With all this glue discussion, may I ask what you use to glue your boards? If it is not proprietary.

Thank You

Andy
 
Sherman said:
What do you suggest as the superior material for cutting foods on?
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I wish there was a superior or perfect surface for a cutting board. Everything has its limitations and drawbacks, some are more severe than others. What is superior is whatever the end user prefers.

If they want glass, then so be it. That person will have to resharpen their knives with each use or suffer with dull knives.

Bamboo is a favorite with the eco people no matter what can be said about it, true or false.

Plastic and rubber boards aren't cheap but have a following. Al least the plastic boards can be reclclyed after use.

Wood is the traditional material but can be quite costly and toxic depending on the species used.

What is vital at this point is that some form of sanitation be used as well as a water resistant coating. Mixing water and vinegar to a 1:1 ratio is accepted as a good agent. Lemon juice added to the mix could help as well. The best part is that all of this is edible. Water and Clorox is accepted as a dependable agent for cleaning. The formula is on the back of the Clorox bottle.
 
Adillo303 said:
Dave (Boardsmith),

With all this glue discussion, may I ask what you use to glue your boards? If it is not proprietary.

Thank You

Andy
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Its not proprietary - TiteBond 3. A waterproof, water soluable cross-linked polymer glue that is rated as food safe for indirect contact with food. (Indirect meaning not on the cutting surface but limited to the edges of the glue joints.) Not cheap, $25.00/gal and easy and dependable to use. In the last five years and 2000+ boards, I can't remember one glue joint failure.
 
To sanitize a cutting board use one teaspoon of bleach mixed with one quart of water. Use a scrub brush to work the bleach and water solution into the cutting board. Do not rinse the bleach and water mixture off of the cutting board. Allow the cutting board to air dry so that the bleach and water mixture can do the work it needs to do to sanitize the cutting board.

If bleach is too harsh a chemical to consider using, try using vinegar. Simply wipe down the cutting board with straight vinegar to get the cutting board sanitized. Hydrogen peroxide is another way to clean cutting board without using bleach or antibacterial sprays.

Cleaning a cutting board is very important for health reasons. Sometimes a cutting board may not be able to be cleaned anymore. If a cutting board has deep grooves it is impossible to clean it well enough to be protected from harmful bacteria left behind by meat and poultry. Throw the cutting board away and get a new one.


Source; http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/246768/how_to_clean_cutting_boards_and_keep.html
 
>>conflicting studies . . .

sigh, get used to it.
for all the Chlorox fans out there I recent ran into a poster who was aghast that 'chickens were dipped in chlorine'

frankly I think the more germs you eat in moderation the more better your immune system . . . (ducking for cover . . . )
 
Lefty said:
To sanitize a cutting board use one teaspoon of bleach mixed with one quart of water. Use a scrub brush to work the bleach and water solution into the cutting board. Do not rinse the bleach and water mixture off of the cutting board. Allow the cutting board to air dry so that the bleach and water mixture can do the work it needs to do to sanitize the cutting board.

If bleach is too harsh a chemical to consider using, try using vinegar. Simply wipe down the cutting board with straight vinegar to get the cutting board sanitized. Hydrogen peroxide is another way to clean cutting board without using bleach or antibacterial sprays.

Cleaning a cutting board is very important for health reasons. Sometimes a cutting board may not be able to be cleaned anymore. If a cutting board has deep grooves it is impossible to clean it well enough to be protected from harmful bacteria left behind by meat and poultry. Throw the cutting board away and get a new one.


Source; http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/246768/how_to_clean_cutting_boards_and_keep.html
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I'm not sure that vinegar is a disinfectant at all. Vinegar worms live in the stuff while it is being made, and they live on the bacteria that changes apple juice to vinegar. Most vinegar sold in the US is pastuerized, but that does not keep it sterile. Just kills the bugs in it before it is bottled. Once it is opened, it is no longer sterile. Just my opinion.
 
bigjim said:
I'm not sure that vinegar is a disinfectant at all. Vinegar worms live in the stuff while it is being made, and they live on the bacteria that changes apple juice to vinegar. Most vinegar sold in the US is pastuerized, but that does not keep it sterile. Just kills the bugs in it before it is bottled. Once it is opened, it is no longer sterile. Just my opinion.
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Really?
 
Well my grandmother used wood cutting boards her whole life even with raw meats. She used white vinegar in a 50/50 solution with water, no one ever got sick from her food. I've done it since I started cooking and again no one ever got sick. Now I also cut raw meats on mine until about 10 years ago when the meat police moved in making new rules. I do tend to agree with ChowderMan on this a perfectly clean environment can be very bad for you as it makes a for a poor immune system as a rule.
 
ChowderMan said:
>>conflicting studies . . .

sigh, get used to it.
for all the Chlorox fans out there I recent ran into a poster who was aghast that 'chickens were dipped in chlorine'

frankly I think the more germs you eat in moderation the more better your immune system . . . (ducking for cover . . . )
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Whether anyone knows it or not, we ARE eating germs and bacteria in moderation because it is on veggies and fruit.

Even when flushed with tons of cool water, the germs are still there, but definitely not enough to harm anyone.

It is mainly when this so-called outbreak of ECOLI supposedly affects what we eat that all of a sudden becomes a gray area and a red flag is raised! :unsure:
 
bigjim said:
I'm not sure that vinegar is a disinfectant at all. Vinegar worms live in the stuff while it is being made, and they live on the bacteria that changes apple juice to vinegar. Most vinegar sold in the US is pastuerized, but that does not keep it sterile. Just kills the bugs in it before it is bottled. Once it is opened, it is no longer sterile. Just my opinion.
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The good folks at Purdue University apparently hold a different opinion, concluding that vinegar is one of the "most effective" cleaners when it comes to reducing microbial contamination in the kitchen:

http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/housewaste/src/research.htm
 
bigjim said:
I'm not sure that vinegar is a disinfectant at all. Vinegar worms live in the stuff while it is being made, and they live on the bacteria that changes apple juice to vinegar. Most vinegar sold in the US is pastuerized, but that does not keep it sterile. Just kills the bugs in it before it is bottled. Once it is opened, it is no longer sterile. Just my opinion.
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Vinegar makes a good cleaner for windows, but I'm also not sure about using it as a sanitizer.

Bleach is supposed to kill every living micro-oganizm, I've often been told. :tiphat:
 
Adillo303 said:
GotGarlic, what ratio do you mix the vinegar / lemon / water in? That sounds like a good idea.
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About 1/3 each. The smell of bleach gives me a headache, so I rarely use it.

I also agree with ChowderMan that eating germs in moderation is good for the immune system - it needs a workout, just like the rest of us :smile: There are studies to that effect, too, I'm just too lazy to look them up right now.
 
ref vinegar, et. al.

one can not lump every "germ" / pathogen / nasty "bug" known to mankind into one single category and say: ". . . and this kills them all"

some are bacterial, some are fungal, some are viral - and no one single "thing" kills them all dead - well, perhaps temperature - but you've got to go past 220'F to think of temperature as a "magic bullet"

vinegar works on a lot of bugs because it is acidic. some bugs live/reproduce only within a limited pH range, higher/lower pH kills 'em daid.

bleach / peroxide etc are "oxidizers" - they kill by a different chemical method.

if you have to deal with different types of bugs, a combination of pH agent(s) and oxidizer agent(s) are often far superior to an either / or approach.

... and the list goes on . . .

a factor often overlooked - neither bacterial or fungal buggies can survive / thrive a dry environment (note the omission of virus)

so if you just blinking wipe the countertop "clean" and it stays "air dry" for hours between meals, like dude, no problem!

works at home (for the non-24x7 eating crowd) - does not work so well in a restaurant where the kitchen surfaces are in use/wet/wiped for 14- 18 - 24 hours at a stretch. some of the precautions / safety measures required for a restaurant operation are simply not applicable in the home setting.
 
I use a lovely bamboo cutting board (thank you, FryBoy) and a couple of smaller plastic ones for everything but meat. I wash the surfaces with soap and water, and then dry the wooden one quickly.

For meat - I use those flexible cutting boards placed on top of a big white plastic board. I bend the flexible ones and run them through the dishwasher (thinking the bending will open up any of the cuts so the heat and detergent can get in there.) I replace those when necessary. Since we don't eat a lot of meat, I don't have to replace them often.
 
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