Kitchen Hygiene: Destroying the Bugs

Cutting off Supplies
In the Battle of the Bugs the key to success, as in any other war, is to remove the enemy’s support systems. In other words, deny him everything he needs to succeed. In the case of bugs this consists of four things. Moisture, warmth, food and time.

Deny the bug troops any of these and they are severely restricted in their ability to attack. Not that the bugs see it that way. They are simply doing what a bug is designed to do. Go forth and multiply. Your illness is nothing more than a by-product of that process. It’s not personal, you understand. It’s strictly business.

So make ‘em an offer they can’t refuse :0)

Chopping boards
These are probably the single biggest source of cross-contamination because most people use the same board for everything. Professional kitchens on the other hand are supposed to have different boards for raw meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products.

Some chefs even use them.

You probably don’t want to go that far, but there is something neat you can do. Use a large, easy to clean board and mark one side of it. That is the side you will always use for raw ingredients and nothing else. You also need to clean it thoroughly after each use. If I catch you just turning it over you’ll be on spud peeling duty for a week!

If you have room, use two different boards and store them apart. They can be in the same cupboard – these bugs don’t jump – but not touching each other. Color coding them is another good idea. So have a red board for raw and a blue board for general use. Which kind of rules out wood, doesn’t it?

Wooden boards are greeaat. They look cool, don’t dull the edge of the knife too much and last a lifetime. Unfortunately, so do the bugs that live on them. A worn wooden chopping block is a high rise tenement block for bugs off all kinds. It’s warm, it traps particles of food, it retains moisture and it hangs around in the kitchen at room temperature. Wow!

If you were a bug, would you want to live anywhere else?

Watch a butcher clean his block. He not only scrubs it down thoroughly, at the end of every day he actually scrapes off the top layer of wood, where the knife cuts are. And he’s only ever going to use it for raw meat!

If you are prepared to do something similar, wooden boards are for you because under those conditions they are perfectly safe; perhaps even safer than the alternatives.

If not, read on.

Use the modern plastic compound boards. They won’t damage your knives either and they are easy to keep clean. What’s more, they dry out thoroughly and they are cheap enough to replace regularly, as they become worn and damaged.

If you have a dishwasher, you can clean them in it and you can, if you wish, use a surface spray on them as well. Personally, I never do. I use vinegar, which is a great stand-by antiseptic as well as a natural foodstuff.

You could also use alcohol, but you might have a better use for a quart of Jim Beam than keeping bugs at bay. And anyway, who wants bugs with a hangover?

Pots & Pans
If you are a home cook, I strongly recommend the use of stainless steel for just about all your kitchenware.

Stainless steel is close to being the perfect kitchen metal in many respects but above all, it can be cleaned thoroughly, quickly and easily by anyone. Scrub it clean in warm soapy water – nothing sticks to it – rinse it, then stick it straight on to a hot stove to heat up and dry out. That’s it. Bug free.

Don’t leave it on the hot stove though, or you’ll find it has another quality – it glows in the dark.

Surfaces
Most modern kitchens have surfaces that are easy to clean and keep sterile. Older ones that still have tiles and wood in them are more of a problem and need special attention.

Your biggest enemy is grease. It gets into very small cracks and provides an ideal habitat for bugs. That’s because it is a food in itself and it’s permanently moist.

Now here’s something which may surprise you. Using disinfectant on a greasy surface will not work. You might as well spray water. Kitchen disinfectants only work successfully on clean, dry surfaces which are probably short of the creatures they are designed to kill anyway.

The solution is to use a good detergent to remove all traces of grease. In older kitchens it’s not a bad idea to follow this up with a weak solution of household bleach, but remember to wear rubber gloves while you are doing it.

Only after this has dried should you use your surface spray, if you must. Personally I use vinegar which is cheaper and just as effective. I am also confident that it’s harmless if swallowed and doesn’t irritate your skin.