GERMS EVERYWHERE- in the Kitchen and the toilet

There is actually more bacteria that can make you ill on a cutting board than on a toilet in the average home. 

WORST SPOT FIRST

The most common tool used for household cleaning is actually  a pathogens paradise. The kitchen sponge or dishrag is often  the most germ-loaded spot in the home. A whopping 1.2  billion dangerous germs have been found in a single kitchen  sponge. Our producers and University of Arizona  microbiologists tested a kitchen dishcloth used only one day  and discovered enough germs to make you sick. The dishcloth  grew fecal E. coli and fecal streptococcus bacteria. Dr.  Gerba points out that the kitchen is the most germ-ridden  area in your home. If I ever come back as a bacteria in my  next life, thats where I want to live.

Scientists suggest killing germs on a dishrag or sponge by  sending it through the dishwasher or the washing machine  when using detergent and bleach. A dishrag or sponge can  also be disinfected in a microwave oven by nuking it for  about 30 seconds. Gerba says the antibacterial sponges that  became available a few years ago do work.

KILLING KITCHEN GERMS

Other kitchen hot zones include: the refrigerator handle and  kitchen telephone which get repeatedly touched by unwashed  hands. Pathogens can survive for days on kitchen  countertops. Gerba points out the kitchen sink is often the  most germ-ridden spot in the home. We find more fecal  bacteria in the kitchen sink than we do in the toilet. Most  people dont realize where you find most of the germs that  could make you ill are really in the sink area because it is  wet, moist, and you are always bringing food in here thats  contaminated.

Cutting boards can transmit food poisoning if they arent  cleaned and disinfected properly. Gerba suggests using  separate cutting boards for meats and produce. Both wood and  plastic cutting boards can be dangerous. You will end up  with a salmonella salad if you are not careful, says a  scientist. 

He suggests using a disinfectant after each use, or place  cutting boards in the dishwasher and run them through the  wash, rinse, and hot dry cycle.

He cuts right to the point: Its actually safer to eat at  a restaurant than at home. Most food-borne illnesses, 50% to  80%, originate in the home. Most people would fail an  inspection by the health department because theyre not using  disinfectant and not washing their hands when they should  be.

Scientists believe its actually safer to eat at a  restaurant than at home 

In the domestic fight against germs, they advise mixing  one part bleach to 16 parts water. Anything that comes in  contact with food should be treated daily. At his home Burba  likes to fill the sink with water, add bleach, and toss in  the items to soak. Wash high touch zones, like faucets and  appliance handles three times a week. We find homes often  times that are really clean are the worst. If they dont use  a disinfectant product in the kitchen, theyre making things  worse. Bachelors often had cleaner kitchen areas germ-wise  because they never clean, says the scientist.

THE BATHROOM

Tehy refer to the bathroom sink, sink drain, tap faucets,  and the bathtub drain as germ hot zones. The toilet is often  at the bottom of his list because many people clean with  disinfectant there. If its not, scientists says, watch out:  We have done time lapse photographs with toilets and it  looks like the Fourth of July with all these droplets that  come off. And what weve noticed is that when you keep your  toothbrush too close to the toilets you get fecal bacteria  on the toothbrush so you end up brushing your teeth with  what was in the toilet. You will be amazed about 10% of the  toothbrushes that we test have E. coli on them.I am really  paranoid after I did that study.

Public restrooms offer their own challenges for navigating a  germ war zone. 


PATHOGENS SHARE OUR PLANET

Scientists admit the odds of getting some of these  infections in your own home may be low, but when they do  make someone sick, the outcome can be serious.

Death rates from infectious diseases are up nearly 60%. The  very young, the very old, and immunocompromised people are  most at risk. Pathogens thrive when people live in crowded  places and in unsanitary conditions. International air  travel makes it easy for germs to spread to new breeding  grounds. Ironically, hospitals are fertile ground for  passing infections. Intravenous drug use, unsafe sex, and  improper food handling spreads disease. Perhaps most  frightening of all is the fact that microbes are adapting to  new climates and growing resistant to the very antibiotics  designed to kill them. Dr. Gerba warns, Microorganisms are  opportunists. We change our lifestyles, they find an  advantage. We change the way we treat our drinking water or  handle our food supply--theyre there waiting. We only die  more commonly now of heart disease and cancer. I have no  doubt sometime in the early 21st century infectious diseases  will be on top again.

Food Safety Fact Sheet 
Food Safety in your Kitchen:
4 Safety Precautions You Can Take 

Food safety in your home kitchen is just as important as  food safety in restaurant kitchens. In fact, as much as 60%  of foodborne illness may be from home kitchens. 

People can get sick when they eat food that contain germs.  Foodborne illnesses are most dangerous for children, the  elderly, and those with weakened immune systems, but they  can affect anyone. 

Some types of foods are more likely than other foods to grow  germs that can make us sick. They can grow easily at room  temperatures in these foods. Foods which are moist and  contain protein are the most potentially hazardous. This  includes meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, cooked rice,  cooked dry beans, tofu, cooked potatoes, and cut melons.  Unpasteurized juices are also a risk. 

Here are four very important things you can do to keep you  and your family and friends safe from foodborne illness at  home. 

Safety Precaution #1 

WASH YOUR HANDS 

Washing hands with warm water and soap gets rid of the germs  on your hands that can get into food and make people sick.  Wash your hands:

before touching utensils you use to make your food (like  knives, cutting boards, pots and pans), and before you touch  food that will not be cooked (like lettuce, salad, fruit,  etc.)

after going to the bathroom, after working with raw meat,  fish or poultry, after taking out the garbage, sneezing,  coughing, or smoking. 

The best way to wash your hands is to:

Wet your hands with warm water. Use soap.

Rub your hands together to loosen any dirt and germs. Rub  between fingers, and over your wrists, don't forget your  thumbs. Get under your fingernails where germs can hide,  too. Wash your hands for 20 seconds, about the time it takes  to hum "happy birthday" to yourself.

Rinse under clean, warm water. Warm water is better than  cold water to get the germs off.

Dry your hands with paper towels. After being used once, a  cloth towel might have germs on it, so if you prefer cloth  towels, wash them frequently. 

Safety Precaution #2 

KEEP FOODS SAFE FROM CROSS CONTAMINATION 

Cross contamination happens when germs from raw or unclean  foods gets onto foods that will not be cooked (or reheated)  before eating. Follow these steps to keep food safe from  contamination: 

Put raw meat, fish, poultry on the bottom shelf in the  refrigerator so the juices don't drip on foods that won't be  cooked. 

Never store foods that won't be cooked before serving in the  same container as raw meat, fish or poultry. 
Use a hard cutting surface with no splits or holes in it. 
Germs can grow in them. 
After cutting or working with raw meat, fish, poultry, eggs,  and melons, wash your hands before touching any food that  will be eaten without being cooked (for example, wash your  hands well after working with hamburger before putting the  lettuce, tomatoes and onion on your bun). 
Wash, rinse and sanitize the cutting surface and all the  utensils (knives, etc.) every time you finish cutting raw  meat, fish, poultry and melons. Household bleach is a good  sanitizer. Use a capful (1 tsp.) for each gallon of cool  water. 

Precaution #3 

COOL & HEAT (and reheat) FOODS PROPERLY 

Not cooling food the right way is the biggest cause of  foodborne illness. Germs grow quickly, and/or toxins can  form. Reheating to the proper temperature before serving  again is very important, too. Follow these food safety ways: 

If food has been sitting at room temperature (in the "danger  zone") for up to 2 hours, refrigerate it or reheat it. After  food has been sitting out for 2 to 4 hours, throw it out.  Potentially hazardous foods (like cut melons, meats, dairy,  fish, etc.) should never be eaten if they have been sitting  out for more than 4 hours. 
To cool them safely, large pieces of meat or poultry need to  be cut into pieces 4 lbs or less. 

Pour thick foods like pea soup, beans, & chili into shallow  pans no more than 2 inches deep to cool them. The shallow  pans help them to cool quickly. 

Do not cover hot food until it has cooled to 450 F or below.

Reheating the food needs to be done as quickly as possible  (within 1 hour) so it doesn't stay too long in the "danger  zone." 

Reheat foods to 1650 F or above; use a meat thermometer to  check the temperature. 

Precaution #4 

HEAT FOODS TO THE PROPER TEMPERATURE! 

Move foods quickly through "THE DANGER ZONE", the  temperature range where germs can grow most quickly and  easily. Your job is to get foods through the "danger zone"  as quickly as possible by cooking, cooling, or reheating in  the right way. View the Danger Zone Thermometer! 

Chinese way : Kitchen Focus 

The Chinese take cooking and eating very seriously and they  consider the kitchen to be the most important room in the  house. A north facing kitchen is not considered good as the  kitchen is associated with the element of Fire and the north  is the Water direction. 

The kitchen must be clear and well ventilated and clear of  unnecessary clutter. 

Many people like to eat in their kitchen and it can also  become a focus for everything that goes on in family, but  the Chinese take cooking very seriously that they dont like  this idea at all. 

We know cooking requires concentration and if one doesnt  have a modicum of peace in which to prepare a meal, one will  not only make a mess of it but sure end up cutting or  burning oneself into the bargain.

Its not easy to prepare a meal in a place where the phone is  claming your attention and where children and pets run in  and out or take up residence.

You may not fancy the idea of having a kitchen isolated from  the activities of the house, but if you are going to do  anything more than simply rip the top from a supermarket  meal, you will need a calm and traffic free place in which  to work.

Keep a safe distance from the toilet 

A toilet that leads off from a kitchen must be separated  from it by two doors. This is not only good Feng Shui but is  also a building regulation. The Chinese consider toilets  very dirty and they dont like them anywhere near kitchens.  If a little sink can be included in the space between the  toilet door and the kitchen door, so much the better.

It is considered bad luck to have a kitchen door that is in  a direct line with the front or the back door. If it is line  with both of these, this will result in increasing illness  and loss of money in the household.

Either keep the doors shut, or if that is impractical, hang  a plant up somewhere in order to break up the flow of Chi.  If you can put your hands on a golden coloured bowl, place  this somewhere in your kitchen and perhaps keep a little  rice in the bowl for good luck.

Place the oven facing the door 

Some traditions consider it to be good Feng Shui to place  the oven facing a door that leads into the rest of the  house. Other traditions dont like this idea because it means  that the cook will have to work with his or her back to a  doorway where passers by cant be seen and where a knife- wielding enemy could creep up on one.

However, wherever your oven is, it should not be adjacent to  a sink or the fridge as these are ruled by the element of  Water while the oven naturally comes under the element of  Fire.

An oven, sink or work surface that is placed in such a way  that a cook has to work with his back to a door can be  improved by hanging up a small mirror so that the cook can  see what is going on behind him.

Include wood in your kitchen 

A small and functional kitchen is pretty much all Fire and  Water. The element that links both Fire and Water is Wood,  so either put wooden doors on the kitchen cupboards or add  some wood by introducing a wooden bread-bin, a wooden salad  bowl or a wooden cup filled with wooden spoons.

Woody plants or a bonsai tree might be a good thing to have  on the windowsill. If your oven faces your sink they will  fight each other! The way to prevent this is to use some  green on the floor between them or to hang a green teacloth  on the oven door.

Never put cutlery in a drawer in a dead corner as this will  encourage stagnant Chi to land up on your dinner table and  causing disharmony in the family and possibly also  indigestion!

New solution for kitchen germs

Cooking will kill almost any microbe. But when it comes to  serving raw foods, such as the vegetables in a garden salad,  neutralizing germs with heat is not an option and washing  the greens doesn't reliably disinfect. Although raw produce  can be sanitized in a bath of dilute bleach, a team of  Georgia scientists is developing an alternative--acidic  electrolyzed water--that appears to kill microbes even more  effectively and could be just as cheap and easy. 

"The technology is not new," explains Yen-Con Hung of the  University of Georgia in Griffin. It relies on an electric  current between two electrodes sitting in a solution of  brine--the same process used to generate chlorine  commercially. The kitchen version of the method differs in  that the starting solution is much more dilute, containing a  mere 0.1 percent sodium chloride. 

With a membrane-based device about half the size of a  microwave oven, the researchers separate this dilute salt  water into acidic and alkaline fractions. The acidic portion  exhibits "strong antiviral and antibacterial properties,"  Hung reported last year at the American Chemical Society  meeting in Washington, D.C. 

In one test, he started with 100 million cells of pathogenic  bacteria--either Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, or  Listeria monocytogenes--on a palm-size patch of a plastic  cutting board. He then immersed the board in tap water for 5  minutes. When it emerged, it still held 10,000 cells.  Another piece of plastic that had started out equally germy  but then was dunked in acidic electrolyzed water carried  only 100 cells. 

"The important thing to realize," Hung says, "is that most  foods or surfaces [in the kitchen]will not start out with  such heavy contamination." When the starting levels are  lower, total elimination of the bacteria is possible, he  claims. 

Hung says that to slay germs, the new technique employs  various reactive agents--especially hypochlorous acid--that  form from the salt's chlorine. Water treated with chlorine  bleach also sanitizes with hypochlorous acid, but Hung's  data suggest that electrolyzed water outper-forms the  bleach-based technique and keeps its potency longer. 

Hung is now testing the electrolyzed water, which is safe to  ingest, for sanitizing egg shells, apples, and lettuce.