As well as, chopping creates deep grooves within the plastic the place micro organism can linger, which makes used plastic chopping boards very troublesome to completely disinfect in a dishwasher. You actually must be utilizing a brush to get into these grooves. So when you do use a plastic board, decide to provide it a very good scrub your self as a substitute of putting it within the dishwasher.
In a single older research5 out of the College of Wisconsin, researchers positioned a number of micro organism, together with E. coli and Salmonella, on each used and new wooden and plastic chopping boards. The wooden chopping boards constantly outperformed the plastic boards by way of bacterial security. Ethical of the story? Picket chopping boards could develop into extra sanitary than plastic, and show higher in your hormonal well being (supplied they don’t use plastic-containing glues to stay the wood items collectively).
Some plastic chopping boards are additionally coated with antibacterial substances to forestall micro organism from rising, however this solely trades in micro organism development for different chemical substances, usually endocrine disrupters. A quite common antibacterial chemical used for such functions is Microban, which comprises the antibacterial ingredient triclosan6. The FDA doesn’t acknowledge triclosan as secure because of its hormone-disrupting properties6. Whereas triclosan has been phased out of handwash and sanitizers7, it nonetheless lurks in different on a regular basis merchandise—together with chopping boards.
Some individuals additionally use sturdy chemical substances, comparable to bleach diluted with water, to scrub plastic chopping boards. That creates the fearful risk of contaminating your meals with such chemical substances. In the event you’ve ever put tomato or turmeric-rich meals right into a plastic container, you’ll see that it turns crimson or yellow. It’s because the elements have seeped into the matrix of the plastic. Harsh cleansing brokers is also seeping into your board, probably contaminating the meals you chop on it.
