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Conference turris::cooks

Title:	How to Make them Goodies
Notice:	Please Don't Start New Notes for Old Topics! Check 5.*
Moderator:	FUTURE::DDESMAISONSec.com::winalski

Created:	Wed Feb 19 1986
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	4127
Total number of notes:	31160

3745.0. "Wood Cutting Boards are OK!!!" by WMOIS::BELLETETE (Searching for a Black Flamingo) Fri Feb 12 1993 16:41

    
    I know there is a discussion in this file about using plastic vs.
    wooden cutting boards but I can't find it!! I scanned all the entries
    in 5.*. So mod please move if you know where it is. 

    This is from a newspaper article this week. I did not participate
    in the previous discussion at the time because I used a wooden board
    and never had a problem. Here's scientific evidence...

    Wooden Boards Butcher Bacteria.

    Scientists at the University of Wisconsin have discovered that wooden
    cutting boards kill food poisoning bacteria, while the bacteria
    survives nicely on plastic cutting boards. 

    Dean O. Cliver and Nese O. Ak, microbiologists at the university's Food
    Research Institute, stumbled on the findings while seeking ways to make
    wooden boards as safe as plastic. The plastic boards have been widely
    promoted for years as safer than wood. 

    To their surprise, they found that when the boards were purposely
    contaminated with organisms like salmonella, listeria and escherichia
    coli - common causes of food poisoning - 99.9 percent of the bacteria
    died off in three minutes on the wooden boards, while none died on the
    plastic ones. 

    When contaminated boards were left unwashed overnight at room
    temperature, bacterial counts increased on the plastic, but none of the
    organisms could be found on the wooden boards the next morning. 

    It had long been believed that bacteria from raw foods like chicken
    would soak into a wooden board and be difficult to remove, even when
    washed; then when other foods, like salad ingredients that are eaten
    raw, are cut on the same board,the dangerous bacteria could be
    transferred to the consumer.

    Plastic was assumed to be safer because it is nonporous and
    contaminating organisms could be readily washed off. 

    The reseachers tested boards made from seven different species of trees
    and four types of plastic and found similar results: wood was safer
    than plastic, regardless of the materials used. Thus far, however, the
    reseachers have been unable to learn what in wood makes it so
    inhospitable to bacteria. 

    Based on the new studies, Cliver said, "wood may be preferable in that
    small lapses in sanitary practicesare not as dangerous on wood as on
    plastic.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
3745.2		DSSDEV::RUST		`Wed Feb 24 1993 23:29`	18
	Well, I think the cutting-board stuff ought to be moved to its own note, considering how long I spent looking for the darned thing in the index. (And never once thought to look under "Mayonnaise". Silly me.) Anyway, there's another article about the study in today's paper. Seems that it isn't just a matter of the wooden boards having fewer live bacteria than the plastic ones - they have almost no bacteria at all, live or dead... As the researcher said, "Eventually, somebody has to follow those critters down into the wood pores and find out what happened to them. We don't know that <the bacteria are> dead, but we know that they don't come back to the surface. The fact that they disappeared, never to return, is not a satisfying conclusion to the study." _I_ think it's a hoot. -b
3745.4	Cutting boards	TNPUBS::STEINHART		`Mon Jan 24 1994 12:07`	18
	<Mods: Didn't find a topic on cutting boards, so please forgive for starting a new one. Move if you see fit.> ABOUT WOODEN BOARDS: I have a wooden cutting board and have questions about its care. First, I know you're not supposed to wash it, but I have been doing so anyway. It just seems gross to only wipe it for messy stuff like meat. How do you clean your wooden boards? Second, how do you get the onion smell out? Mine is pretty rank, despite washing and wiping with lemon peel. Third, what kind of oil should I get to season it? I need an oil that won't poison me. ;-) It has a small crack already. Time to act! L
3745.5	Works for me...	OKFINE::KENAH	The Man with the Child in his eyes	`Mon Jan 24 1994 12:30`	4
	I scrub my wooden cutting board with a little water and a lot of baking soda to remove onion smell. andrew
3745.6		DEMING::GARDNER	justme....jacqui	`Mon Jan 24 1994 13:46`	5
	I just read that one uses mineral oil for wooden boards. justme....jacqui
3745.7	dir/title=board .... gives 3745	RANGER::PESENTI	And the winner is....	`Mon Jan 24 1994 16:08`	14
	Maybe this note and that one could be consolidated by the moderator into a generic cutting board note. My wood board gets washed with soap when it needs it. I also scrub it with a nylon net pot scrubber, and it takes some of the "dead wood" surface off, which gets rid of a lot of odor. From time to time, I also put lemon juice on the surface, and let it sit a few minutes. This removes stains and ALL odors. Once in a blue moon, I put mineral oil on it. The best thing I ever did for it was to buy a large plastic board the same size for cutting chicken, and a few small plastic boards for garlic and onions. I set the boards right on top of the wood one when needed in order to get the extra 1.5" counter height my wood board provides.
3745.8	note moved ... '.0' means '.4'	GEMGRP::WINALSKI		`Mon Jan 24 1994 16:22`	7
	RE: .0 You should ALWAYS wash a cutting board, regardless of what material it's made of, ESPECIALLY if it's been used for cutting meat or poultry. You are asking for a case of salmonella food poisoning if you don't. --PSW
3745.9		DSSDEV::RUST		`Mon Jan 24 1994 17:41`	5
	See also the "Cutting Board" section of the "Mayonnaise" note, 2431. [No, I'm not kidding; all the best stuff about cutting boards is in there. ;-)] -b
3745.10	scrub & salt	MSBCS::MORGENSTEIN	Something inoffensive	`Mon Jan 24 1994 20:01`	6
	We scrub it with a green scrubby pad & hot water. After cutting meat (esp. raw meat) we salt it and then wash the salt off later. Ruth
3745.3	moderator reply and pointer	NOVA::FISHER	US Patent 5225833	`Tue Jan 25 1994 08:11`	8
	please see also the cutting board replies under the mayonnaise note #2431. It's pretty well interwoven there so I chickened out and didn't move anything. (Also, set note/note_id has caused a few flaky notes files lately :-) ). The following replies were moved here from a more recent note. ed, COOKS comoderator