“Your cutting board comes in contact with raw meat, dough and fresh produce on an almost daily basis.Jupiterimages/Thinkstock
Your cutting board requires a little light maintenance to stay germ-free and in good working order. This part of your cooking area shouldn’t be too difficult to clean — besides getting contaminated, there’s not much else that can go wrong with a cutting board. After all, cutting boards have a simple design and are constructed from minimal materials. The thickness varies from one cutting board to the next, but all types are basically a slab of wood or plastic. Put in a tiny bit of effort for this frequently used kitchen contraption, and it should last you a long time!
Cutting board care comes down to three simple steps: clean, sanitize and dry. You don’t necessarily need to do all three things each time you use your chopping block. It all depends on what foods you’re handling. (We’ll come back to that a little later in the article.) Whether your work board is made of plastic or wood, you just need to follow a few easy guidelines to minimize bacteria levels and keep the food you’re preparing safe to eat.
Good cutting board care means more than a quick wash and rinse once in awhile. But you don’t have to pull out a caddy of cleaning agents to care for it, either. Go to the next page to learn what exactly you can do to make sure your kitchen work surface is hygienic and safe to use.
