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…
You’re cleaning your cutting board wrong and it could make you ill
Raw meat, juicy fruits and vegetables, herbs, fish — your cutting board has been underneath it all. Cutting boards are an integral part of any kitchen, but with all of this chopping action, isn’t there a hygiene concern? Most of us wash our cutting boards with warm, soapy water, thinking we’ve taken care of the task, then happily move on to something else. But cutting boards have been found to harbor 200 percent more fecal bacteria than your everyday toilet seat. It’s time to switch up our cleaning routine. Washing with soapy liquid is effective at killing harmful bacteria present on other kitchen items — plates, cutlery, utensils, counters — it just can’t compete with the cold, hard surface of a cutting board, meaning bacteria can linger and make you ill. Sarah from Expert Home Tips told The Mirror that bleach is the answer. “Soaking chopping boards in bleach after every use will…