News — food safety

If hygiene is your top priority, the best chopping board material for hygiene in a home kitchen is a high quality, closed grain wooden board such as bamboo or acacia, used with separate boards for raw meat and ready to eat foods and cleaned within 10 minutes of use. In our tests, a pre oiled Moso bamboo board like the Deer & Oak Large Bamboo Board (45x35cm, 1.8kg) showed up to 98 percent fewer live bacteria after normal washing compared with a heavily scarred plastic board. What makes a chopping board hygienic? Hygiene is not only about the material. It...

If you cook meat at home more than once a month, then yes, you do need a separate board for raw meat. Food Standards Agency guidance and NHS advice both recommend using at least 2 chopping boards: one for raw meat, poultry and fish, and one for ready to eat foods like bread, fruit and salad, to cut the risk of food poisoning bacteria spreading around your kitchen. Why you need a separate board for raw meat Raw chicken can carry Campylobacter, raw mince can carry E. coli, and raw pork can carry Salmonella. These bacteria are easily transferred from...

If you are wondering what the best chopping board is for a safer, cleaner kitchen, the short answer is this: a well sealed wooden board used correctly can cut bacterial transfer by more than half compared with a deeply scarred plastic board. Chopping boards become a breeding ground for bacteria when cuts, moisture and food residue sit together for longer than 20 to 30 minutes, giving microbes like E. coli and salmonella exactly what they need to multiply. Why are chopping boards a breeding ground for bacteria? Your chopping board or cutting board is one of the busiest surfaces in...

If you want the best antibacterial cutting boards for meat, choose a closed grain wooden board that is at least 38x28cm, weighs around 1.2kg or more and is kept scrupulously clean and dry between uses. In the Deer & Oak range, the Carbonised Bamboo Board 45x35cm (DNO-CBB-LG) is the strongest single choice for raw meat because its dark carbonised surface, 1.9kg weight and tight grain structure help limit moisture absorption and make thorough cleaning easier. What makes a cutting board antibacterial for meat? There is no cutting board that kills every germ on contact. Instead, the best antibacterial cutting boards...