How Clean Is Your Kitchen Towel?

We are all guilty of not disinfecting our kitchen towels and cloths daily

Our kitchen cloths and wipes inadvertently become the dirtiest because they are used to mop up counters, spills, and stains. Microbiologists have repeatedly found various strains of bacteria known to cause food poisoning inside dish cloths and kitchen towels used in average households. Because the sponge, wipe, or cloth you use to clean up gets used several times a day, it winds up full of water and old food, meaning there’s plenty of food and moisture for bacteria to grow.

Our climate, being warm and humid through most of the year means that germs multiply quicker, and even after a short time, the cloth or sponge may start to smell unpleasant – a sign of a heightened risk of food poisoning. The same goes for kitchen scrubbers, where bacteria will quickly multiply between the bristles.

The kitchen is the ideal place for bacteria to thrive, that’s why you need to replace or clean your washing-up sponge or cloth regularly – ideally every other day. In the interest of saving costs and the environment we can keep our wipes, cloths, and sponger etc clean in the following ways:

1. Soak you scrubbers, cloths, wipes, and brushes etc in a solution of 1 cup hot water, ½ cup white vinegar and a tbsp of baking soda. Alternatively, you can use a detergent with hot water.

2. Keep overnight

3. Rinse out thoroughly and leave to dry in sunlight for complete disinfection 

4. Repeat this every alternate day

A few points to remember:

– Try not to use your kitchen towel as a multi- purpose wipe and cleaner. Demarcate separate cloths for wiping kitchen tables surfaces, drying dishes and glasses, cleaning gas ranges, wiping o food counters, drying or wiping your hands etc.  This will reduce the dirt and bacteria that collects on your towels.

– Keep you floor cloth and counter cloths separately.

– Alternate with a fresh set of towels and wipes every few days whilst you deep clean the used cloths.

– Monitor the use of your cleaning cloths and wipes in the kitchen, if you don’t cook and clean up yourself, as you may lose track of how long they have been in use. 

– If you can’t get your hands on compostable wipes, use good old cotton terry cloths or towels. Using kitchen paper rolls, wipes etc. do not contribute towards a more environmentally friendly planet. Re-using our supplies is always a good habit.