News — kitchen hygiene

If your top priority is bacteria resistance, the best cutting board material for most home kitchens is high quality, tightly grained wood such as Moso bamboo or acacia, used with separate boards for raw meat and ready to eat foods and cleaned within 10 minutes of use. Studies have shown that bacteria on wooden boards can die off within a few hours, whereas they can survive for up to 48 hours in deep cuts on some plastic boards. Why wood and bamboo perform so well against bacteria There is a common myth that plastic is always safer than wood. In...

If your main concern is kitchen hygiene, well cared for bamboo cutting boards can be safer than worn plastic boards for preventing bacteria, because studies show bacteria survive less on hard, fine grained surfaces and deep knife scars in plastic can hold microbes for days. In practice, a high quality moso bamboo board, cleaned within 10 minutes of use and dried upright, can help you keep everyday bacterial risk very low compared with an older, heavily scarred plastic board. How bamboo compares to plastic for bacteria So, are bamboo cutting boards better than plastic for preventing bacteria? In many real...

If you want to know how to sanitize a wooden cutting board with vinegar, the simplest method is a 1:1 mix of white vinegar and water, left on the board for 5 minutes before rinsing and drying upright. Used after every heavy prep, this routine can help a quality board, such as a 45x35cm Deer & Oak Large Bamboo Board, stay hygienic for 5 to 10 years when combined with regular oiling. Why vinegar works on wooden cutting boards White vinegar contains acetic acid, which helps reduce common kitchen bacteria on the surface of wooden and bamboo boards. It is...

In the standard UK kitchen colour code, the chopping board for cooked meat is yellow. If you want to keep your kitchen safe and organised, use a yellow cutting board for cooked meat, and reserve other colours for raw meat, fish, vegetables and bread. Why the cooked meat board is yellow Professional kitchens across the UK follow a widely recognised colour coding system to reduce cross contamination. In this system, cooked meat always goes on a yellow kitchen board. That single rule helps staff instantly see if food is on the right surface. Here is the common colour breakdown used...