Paranoid About Bacteria

[Smokey Lew]

Just finished watching the evening news and they had a scary story about drug resistant bacteria (Staph bacteria) being found in nearly 50% of poultry, beef and pork in supermarkets across the nation. The news report profiled a health inspector who said that this is happening due to all the antibiotics being fed to livestock to counteract the over crowded and unsanitary living conditions they are subjected to.

Cooking the meat properly should kill the Staph bacteria but the real danger is cross-contamination. The question I have is, "What is the best method for cleaning cutting boards, knives, meat grinding equipment and counter tops to prevent this situation? How do you guys handle this? Do you use a disinfectant spray in addition to a soapy water wash (hot water vs. cool water)? Any special products or home remedy? Good sources for best practices, etc.

 

[BigAL]

Liberal scare tactics, imho. Just keep a raw board and a cooked board. Just simple common cleaning and your fine.

I use alot of alum foil.(buy the big rolls at Sams) I pull out a piece to prep the raw and it goes in the trash. Then my cutting board is for cooked only.

As far as the livestock industry, it's just getting alot of crap. If you want to see what is done in a cattle feedlot and hog finishing farms, come on out
to beautiful w. KS. We finish pigs and are very involved in a feedlot, but I don't know crap about poultry. If you do believe that w. KS is beautiful,
then you are already sick.

 

[DaveG]

The question I have is, "What is the best method for cleaning cutting boards, knives, meat grinding equipment and counter tops to prevent this situation?

A good method is to use a paper towel with vinegar and a clean paper towel with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Doesn't matter which you use first. Perfectly safe and effective. Keep each on hand in a spray bottle.

 

[Nick Prochilo]

I use the lysol kitchen spray with the disinfectant for the counters. My cutting boards get a washing in the sink and then into the dishwasher. I also have 4 or 5 cutting boards to use so cross contamination won't be an issue.

 

[TimBear]

Lew,
Being a meat cutter of 33 years, I use all wood blocks in my house; the wood does not harbor bacteria, the plastic boards do. Woods natural cellulose closes up and does not allow bacteria growth. I also use a block scraper (a dough cutter) to scrape the block after each use and then hit it with some soapy water and dry it with a paper towel. Ever so often I give it a bleach bath; I put a layer of bleach on them, scrub and then scrape it off. Good to go!

 

[hawk wild bbq co]

Good common sense of poultry to pork to beef will prevail generally...We all know you dont play with the chickens while you are serving your beef. Best is to prep one at a time and keep plenty of cutting boards and sanitizer handy.

 

[johnm1]

I use soap and water first which will get rid of just about all the germs and then get a bottle sprayer (32 oz) with a solution of 1 quart water and two cap fulls of bleach. This is what my dentist uses for his dental equipment.

Vinegar is mentioned and I like that also but more so for cleaning the floor becuase it will get rid of a lot of odor.

 

[Justaguy]

I agree with the good common sense method. I've heard lots of people say to use one cutting board for veggies, one for beef/pork, and one for poultry, but as long as your washing them it doesn't matter. FYI: Cooks illustrated did a testing on cutting boards of different materials and found that a good hot soapy hand washing is just as effective as the dishwasher.