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These are the cleanest grocery stores in America, survey shows

Nothing will make you drop your cart and run out of a grocery store quite like sticky floors, dingy aisles, and crumbs. Cleanliness is so important that it’s consistently one of the top-rated features (along with bright lights, product selection, and value) that makes us return to a store again and again. So which grocery stores can claim to be the cleanest of them all? Nonprofit consumer group, Consumer Reports’ recently released the findings of a nationwide member survey of grocery stores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs. More than 75,000 people across 96 stores responded. Criteria included cleanliness of sidewalks and entryways, the number of working hand sanitizer stations and cart wipes available, how quickly spills were wiped up, how often floors were cleaned in general, and the cleanliness of restrooms. Cleanest Grocery Stores The top-ranking grocers include Texas-based regional chain Central Market; the mid-Atlantic’s Wegmans; the Chicago and Ohio area…

Your kitchen towel could be loaded with bacteria, study shows

We were already weary of kitchen sponges, but now we know to look out for kitchen towels, too. Kitchen towels do many duties from wiping to drying, holding hot things and cleaning surfaces. They’re ubiquitous in households around the world, but now we know, those pretty patterns might be hiding some dangerous secrets. A new study from the University of Mauritius reported by the American Society for Microbiology found that family size and type of diet factor into the growth rate of the bacteria on kitchen towels that can lead to food poisoning and other serious infections. Researchers took an up close look at 100 kitchen towels after one month of use and found that 49 percent of the towels contained high levels of bacterial growth. The bacteria count increased with the size of the family and also when children or extended families were present. In households where towels  had more than…

This is the dirtiest object in your home

If you’re curious what is the leading culprit in harboring bacteria in your home, you’re about to be grossed out. It’s not your shoes, your purse, or even the toilet. It’s an object you actually claim to use for cleaning — the kitchen sponge. A new study published in Scientific Reports found that the kitchen sponge, given its constant contact with water and food particles, is a good place for bacteria to grow. The results may be unsurprising, but the amount of bacteria is where we might underestimate the situation. Sponges showed a density of 54 billion bacteria per cubic centimeter — about equivalent to the number of bacteria in human feces. Yikes. “Despite common misconception, it was demonstrated that kitchen environments host more microbes than toilets,” the researchers wrote in the study. “This was mainly due to the contribution of kitchen sponges which were proven to represent the biggest reservoirs of active bacteria…

Experts say this is the best way to load silverware in a dishwasher

At some point it’s likely that you’ve opened a dishwasher to find your spouse or roommate loaded or rearranged it in a way you felt very strongly about. Chances are, how you load a dishwasher is nearly ingrained in you at this point, and whether grounded in truth or not, you have ideas about how the task is done most efficiently. This includes the decision to load silverware handle side up or handle side down. An ongoing poll on Houzz shows that people are split nearly 50/50 on the debate. The handle-side-up argument states that knives and forks can cause serious injuries to the person who will be unloading the machine. The handle-side-down camp insists that cutlery doesn’t get nearly as clean when it’s hidden in the basket, and also that handle side pointing down allows for less silverware overall to fit in each load. So which is the correct way? TipHero looked at various…

Stop bacteria from building up in your knife block

How to Clean a Knife Block Your floors, fridge, countertops and even oven make in on to your regular cleaning checklist, but there’s one surface in your kitchen you have probably never even touched. Consider your knife block. Sure, your knives are clean when you stow them in the slots, but dust and other debris can accumulate in these small spaces anyway. Despite our usual disregard for them, knife blocks should actually be washed and sanitized monthly if use frequently. Moisture can lead to mold and bacteria build-up, so to avoid larger cleaning issues, wash knives after each use and dry each thoroughly before sliding back into the knife block. Sanitize a knife block by following these simple steps: Step 1: Remove any knives stored in the block and set aside. Turn the block upside side over the sink and shake lightly to remove large debris. Step 2: Use a…

Dirty Dozen: Fruits, vegetables with the most pesticides

Nearly 70 percent of sampled produce was found to have significant pesticide residue, according to a new report by one government agency. The biggest offender? Strawberries. The Environmental Working Group released its 2017 list of the “dirtiest” and “cleanest” items in the produce isle. Strawberries, spinach and nectarines took the top spots of shame, while sweet corn, avocados and pineapples were rated the “cleanest.” At least 178 different pesticides were found on the produce, even after they were washed, and in some instances, peeled. Pesticides have been known to cause a number of health issues, including short-term problems like headaches and digestive troubles to chronic conditions like cancer and endocrine disruption. “Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is essential no matter how they’re grown, but for the items with the heaviest pesticide loads, we urge shoppers to buy organic,” said Sonya Lunder, an EWG senior analyst. It’s particularly important to reduce young children’s exposures to pesticides, says Lunder. “Even low levels…