Cleaning & Disinfecting Plastic Cutting Boards

[Shel_B]

I have several plastic cutting boards (don't know if they are polyethylene or polypropylene), and have been cleaning and disinfecting them with bleach. They are washed by hand. I'd like to find an alternative to bleach for doing this.  Any suggestions?

[Martin Fisher]

I buy the relatively thick ones so I can pour boiling water on them — haven't had one permanently warp.

[Dave the Cook]

I suppose it depends on why you're looking for an alternative to bleach. Plain old vinegar is pretty effective, though it doesn't kill staph and doesn't work on all types of salmonella. Then there are quats, but those are mildly controversial. 

[gulfporter]

You are washing them by hand, because ???   If you have a d/w, throw them in there to disinfect (high heat setting).  

[Shel_B]

16 minutes ago, gulfporter said:

You are washing them by hand, because ???  

 

No dishwasher ...

[Porthos]

Shel_B, if you are trying to avoid bleach altogether then this will be of no help.

 

If you make up a bleach solution that is 100 ppm of chlorine in water, and put it into a spray bottle, thrity seconds of contact with this solution,reasonably liberaly applied, approximates the California Unified Retail Food Facility Law requirement for sanitizing food contact items.  CURFFL would have 30 seconds of contact by immersion.

 

I use Clorox Anywhere in my kitchen at home: Clorox Anywhere hard surface spray.  https://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-daily-sanitizing-spray/

Edited August 4, 2016 by Porthos (log)

[dcarch]

I use a germicidal UV light.

 

dcarch

[Lisa Shock]

Restaurants here are required to use bleach or quaternary ammonia. The ammonia is more expensive, not as eco-friendly, difficult to find (the restaurant supply store does have it, the supermarket doesn't), you need to use test strips to make sure you have the concentration right, and it looses it's effectiveness within about 20 minutes. Bleach, plus regular re-surfacing of the boards, is what most restaurants do.

 

If the bleach is affecting your hands, get some rubber gloves.

 

Also, make sure to air-dry the board, and make sure it is very dry before use.

[AlaMoi]

one could of course use wooden cutting boards which don't require all these extraordinary killing routines . . .

[Shel_B]

3 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

one could of course use wooden cutting boards which don't require all these extraordinary killing routines . . .

 

I have a number of wooden cutting boards as well as the plastic boards.  I use different boards for different purposes.  Can you answer my question?

[Lisa Shock]

quaternary ammonia. don't forget to buy test strips for it as well.

[paulraphael]

4 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

Restaurants here are required to use bleach or quaternary ammonia. The ammonia is more expensive, not as eco-friendly, difficult to find (the restaurant supply store does have it, the supermarket doesn't), you need to use test strips to make sure you have the concentration right, and it looses it's effectiveness within about 20 minutes. Bleach, plus regular re-surfacing of the boards, is what most restaurants do.

 

In what sense is quaternary ammonia less eco-friendly? 

 

It's non-toxic at working dilutions. It doesn't damage stainless steel or textiles like bleach does, it doesn't form carcinogenic dioxins like bleach does, it doesn't produce irritating fumes like bleach does. 

 

The only time you need test strips is if you're using it as the final rinse in a hand-washing sink and you want to make sure it hasn't been exhausted. Or if you want to check that your employees have mixed it properly. If you're mixing working solution in a spray bottle, you don't need test strips.

 

The shelf life of the working solution in a bottle is over 6 months. 

 

I bought my 1-gallon jug of concentrate in 2008 and it's about 2/3 gone now. The concentrate has an indefinite shelf life. When it's gone I'll probably get tablets, like these. At under $9 for 150 gallons of working solution, price isn't much of an issue.

 

I can see just two potential issues with quats: they're not effective against norovirus, which is one of the more common sources of foodborne illness. And they leave a germicidal residue on surfaces. This residue can remain active for many hours, possibly even a few days. There's some concern that this could play a part in creating sanitizer-resistant strains of bacteria. This is a hypothetical concern with quats, but the same phenomenon has been shown to be real with triclosan, which has led to efforts to ban triclosan in antibacterial soaps and hand cleaners.

 

 

[paulraphael]

In response to the original question, the most important thing with plastic cutting boards is to throw them out when they get deeply scored. Someone around here said they had luck sanding them smooth, but most people say they melt and make a gummy mess if you sand them, which makes them disposable. 

 

Beyond that, washing them thoroughly in hot, soapy water is the most important step, and is usually all that's necessary. 

 

Sanitizing is a perfectly reasonable precaution (I do it just as a good habit), but unless you're cooking professionally or cooking for people you know to be immune-compromised, it's optional. Vinegar is slightly effective. I think quaternary ammonium compounds (from the restaurant store or online) are the best all around (see above).

 

Doing a thorough job with the washing is always most important. Sanitizers of all kinds (bleach included) are ineffective if there's any food residue on the board.

[Lisa Shock]

Quats are supposed to degrade and dissipate, but, due to their chemical structure and other things in waste water like surfactants and variable oxygen levels, many times they don't break down. This is especially true in small streams and muddy areas where they have been found in high enough concentrations to be toxic to wildlife. They also interfere with fertility and gestation in rats, no one has done a human study, yet.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17302311

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715002727

 

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/aug/quats-disinfectants

[Porthos]

For what it's worth (probably not much) I have ask several retail food service operators over the last 8 years if they use bleach or quats. To a person they said they use bleach.

 

If you ignore the environmental merits of either one, to me there is another interesting usage item. Whereas under CURFFL you need 30 seconds of contact with bleach, you need 2 minutes with quats.

 

ETA: By law my ren faire kitchens do not have to be inspected and approved by the health department since we do not sell to the public. However, since we are feeding 80 people, all of our equipment, including our plastic cutting boards, are cleaned and sanitized in accordance with the CURFFL.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Porthos (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Some of this isn't helpful to Shel, but may be to others interested. My most important cutting board procedures are to keep veggies and meats completely separate. I have a special board for meats that can go into the dishwasher. The one for veggies has little non-slip feet on it, and these will eventually loosen and fall off in the dishwasher. They can be glued back on with waterproof fabric glue designed to go through a washing machine multiple times, if you can find the little feet, and they don't get burned up by the heating element in the bottom. I always just hand wash the the veggie board with hot soapy water, and it's enough, in my world.

 

I use the board without the non-skid feet mostly to thin slice cooked meats for sandwiches, and this can safely and without any detriment go into the dishwasher.

 

For all raw meat handling I use my just cleaned with hot soapy water stainless steel double sinks. I remove everything I usually keep around the sink area: drain stoppers, sponges, scrubbers, cutting boards. I wash chickens in there, scoop out the kidneys and dismember them. I treat them like the salmonella contaminated nuclear waste that they are. (I am very proud of myself that I didn't say a word about an amusing picture of a raw chicken with its wing tip on a whisky glass posted tonight. It took a lot of restraint.)

 

I like being able to stab a boning knife down through the breast bone from the inside of the body cavity and get some leverage to split it by placing the carcass breast side down over the garbage disposal opening. It is much easier to me to get a clean cut on the breast skin so that it stays where it belongs. I can often do a better job this way than the butchers with their saws who sometimes end up with small scraps of skin on a breast. A sure way to dry one out. The knife never contacts the steel of the sink, the kidneys go down the disposal, and I clean the sink and the surrounding area very thoroughly, again with hot soapy water after the operation.

 

I also slice racks of ribs between the bones in the sink when they won't be cooked in one piece. I have little need for other raw meat butchering, but once I sliced a couple whole prime ribs into steaks, and they were done in the sink too.

 

I am chemically averse, but I do use bleach in the toilets. I have never had, nor ever given anyone food poisoning. Knock on wood! 

 

 

[dcarch]

All cutting boards get damaged, plastic and wood. The damaged surfaces are the problem for sanitizing. There are no practical ways to repair the damages in the home kitchen. Sandpapering does not work.

 

The following works very well for both wood and plastic boards:

Get a set of cabinet maker's scrapers. They are not expensive. Every time you have done cutting, use the scrapers to clean the surface, then wash.

 

The scarpers give a very flat shinny finish on the boards. Members here who has done woodworking will know what I am talking about.

 

I am surprised that they do come with a scraper with every board they sale.

 

dcarch

 

 

Edited August 5, 2016 by dcarch (log)

[AlaMoi]

23 hours ago, Shel_B said:

 

I have a number of wooden cutting boards as well as the plastic boards.  I use different boards for different purposes.  Can you answer my question?

 

sorry, I misunderstood.  I offered a solution to the problem.

whereas you are seeking to mitigate the symptoms.

 

but,

out of curiosity and since I've used only wood cutting boards for every purpose since for ever,,,

what distinction / reason is present to split wood vs plastic?

Edited August 5, 2016 by AlaMoi (log)

[Porthos]

@AlaMoi The OP asked for alternatives to bleach for his plastic boards. While my responses did not provide Shel_B with alteratives to bleach I did offer ways to consider using bleach he may have not thought of. And I started my response with " Shel_B, if you are trying to avoid bleach altogether then this will be of no help. "

 

Your response did not address how to disinfect plastic boards at all.

On 8/4/2016 at 2:34 PM, AlaMoi said:

one could of course use wooden cutting boards which don't require all these extraordinary killing routines . . .

 

I am taken aback by you essentially asking the OP to justify his choices.

 

And when I did use wooden boards I did sanitize them.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Porthos (log)

[dscheidt]

23 hours ago, paulraphael said:

In response to the original question, the most important thing with plastic cutting boards is to throw them out when they get deeply scored. Someone around here said they had luck sanding them smooth, but most people say they melt and make a gummy mess if you sand them, which makes them disposable. 

 

Beyond that, washing them thoroughly in hot, soapy water is the most important step, and is usually all that's necessary. 

 

 

If you know a woodworker with serious power tools, the boards can be sent through a planer, which does a fine job on them. 

 

Also, when washing boards, allow them to air dry. 

[paulraphael]

On August 5, 2016 at 0:53 AM, Lisa Shock said:

Quats are supposed to degrade and dissipate, but, due to their chemical structure and other things in waste water like surfactants and variable oxygen levels, many times they don't break down. This is especially true in small streams and muddy areas where they have been found in high enough concentrations to be toxic to wildlife. They also interfere with fertility and gestation in rats, no one has done a human study, yet.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17302311

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715002727

 

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/aug/quats-disinfectants

 

Thanks for posting, Lisa. That's all very interesting, although it doesn't suggest that the quats are getting into the environment kitchen sanitizers. The small streams / muddy areas suggests that these quats did not originate in kitchen sinks that's drain to municipal sewers and sewage treatment. I suspect further study will show that the environmental quats are coming from other sources. 

 

Some of these sources they mention are new to me ... hand sanitizers and shampoos. These strike me as bad ideas.

[paulraphael]

On August 5, 2016 at 8:39 AM, dcarch said:

All cutting boards get damaged, plastic and wood. The damaged surfaces are the problem for sanitizing. There are no practical ways to repair the damages in the home kitchen. Sandpapering does not work.

 

Sandpaper (in a palm sander) has worked fine on all my boards. 

 

It probably depends on the depth of the grooves. I cut lightly, and use a serrated knife on my bread board only, so I'm not dealing with deep valleys.

[paulraphael]

On August 5, 2016 at 10:06 PM, dscheidt said:

 

If you know a woodworker with serious power tools, the boards can be sent through a planer, which does a fine job on them. 

 

Just don't use a planer on an endgrain board. You'll destroy the board and probably also the planer. 2nd hand advice from the Boardsmith.

[Lisa Shock]

I had a co-worker once who could take a cheap chef's knife, the $10 from Restaurant Depot kind, and shave the cutting boards and our plastic cutting counters. I couldn't get it quite right, I need more practice...

[Shel_B]

Restaurants here are required to use bleach or quaternary ammonia.

 

The link provided here is from an article published by Clorox, certainly not a disinterested party.  The article says

"Clorox purchases chlorine and makes household bleach by bubbling the chlorine into a solution of water and

sodium hydroxide. During this process, all of the chlorine is converted to a sodium hypochlorite solution." 

 

Yet here Clorox says (certainly strongly suggests) that the product contains sodium chloride.  I'm no chemist, but it seems to me that all of the chlorine is not converted to sodium hypochlorite ... FWIW.  From my past personal experience dealing with the Clorox company in business, I am skeptical of their candor and honesty