How to Clean a Wood Cutting Board & Avoid Food Poisoning

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Salt kills bacteria.

In her book Clean House, Clean Planet, Karen Logan points out that cutting boards used to work with meat, fish, and turkey (raw or cooked) could be a source of food poisoning more often than you'd think. Instead of turning to chlorine bleach for disinfecting, Logan suggests the following two eco-friendly methods:

• Rub a paste of salt and hot water into the board. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Rinse with vinegar.
• Rub board with a halved lemon and some salt. Rub into the cutting board. Rinse with hot water. 

To prevent cross-contamination, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection, suggests using one cutting board dedicated to fresh produce and bread and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood. This will prevent bacteria on a cutting board that is used for raw meat, poultry, or seafood from contaminating a food that requires no further cooking.

Resources:
More food safety tips.
How salt kills bacteria in meat, explained.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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