FAct Corner

There's more E. coli in a kitchen sink than in a toilet after you flush it. The sink is a great place for E. coli to live and grow since it's wet and moist. Bacteria feed on the food that people put down the drain and what's left on dishes in the sink. That's probably why dogs drink out of the toilet — because there's less E. coli in it," says Dr. Germ. In most cases, it's safer to make a salad on a toilet seat than it is to make one on a cutting board," says Dr. Charles Gerba (aka Dr. Germ), a microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "People disinfect their toilet seats all the time, but they don't realize that they really need to pay attention in the kitchen, too." We use the kitchen sink for food preparation – rinsing produce, cleaning pots and pans, washing utensils that touch raw meat, and more. With these activities come the possibility for foodborne illness-causing bacteria to hang out in the sink too. If proper food preparation safety steps are not followed, these bacteria could cross-contaminate your food and make you sick! Even if your kitchen sink doesn’t look dirty, it is. That’s because moisture, food debris, soap scum, and everything else you toss in the sink combine to create the perfect environment for bacteria to grow. There’s so many bacteria living in your sink and on your dish sponge that you’d be better off eating food off your toilet seat! So, just how dirty is a kitchen sink? The kitchen sink is so dirty – that it’s the germiest place in your home. A study found that the standard kitchen sink is home to higher concentrations of harmful bacteria, yeast, and mold than anywhere else. The nasty stuff living in a dirty kitchen sink is a who’s-who disease-causing bacteria, including: Salmonella coli Shigella Norovirus Hepatitis A Campylobacter Bacteria thrive in kitchens thanks to the prevalence of food, moisture, and comfortable temperatures. These microscopic critters are hardy, too. Salmonella can live on surfaces for several hours, while hepatitis A can survive on dirty countertops of sinks for months. That’s right. Months.

If you’re already staring at the sink in disgust, the worst culprit is in sight: Dish sponges or dishcloths have the highest concentration of bacteria of any item in your home. A damp cloth can grow harmful levels of salmonella overnight, even if you rinse and wring it out. Use a fresh towel or sponge every two or three times you do dishes or wipe a countertop to reduce the risk of illness. If you’re cleaning up meat, poultry, or eggs, swap out that rag right away. You can limit exposure even more by touching your faucet a lot less. Touchless faucets automatically turn on and off, reducing the number of times you contact germy surfaces like the handle.

Consumer Reports looked at the benefits of washing your produce with baking soda or with vinegar. The benefit of soaking your fruits and veggies in a solution of mostly cold water with a little bit of vinegar is that the vinegar reduces bacteria levels. Use apple cider or white vinegar for a 10–15-minute soak. Then rinse the fruit well. The benefit of baking soda (besides not having any kind of vinegar smell or taste lingering) is that it removes pesticides. A 2017 study on apples found a baking soda soak of 12 to 15 minutes removed more pesticides than a two-minute soak with a bleach solution Baking soda is an effective pesticide residue remover. Studies have shown that it can significantly reduce the presence of pesticides on the surface of fruits. Vinegar, with its acetic acid, is also helpful in this regard.