Phisherman wrote:
On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:16:47 -0700, Steve Daniels
wrote:

On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:50:15 -0400, against all advice, something
compelled " , to
say:

Good advice, but not the most important thing. My concerns with a wood
cutting board are the fine cuts into the wood that can harbor e-coli or
salmonella, esp. when cutting meat.


I solve that by not cutting meat on a wood board.


Wood harbor less bacteria than the plastic boards. I use a board for
meat and another for vegetables. I got food poisoning twice from
eating in restaurants, but yet to get it at home.

By gouging the wood, the scientists found living bacteria long after
using a cutting board.

Cleaning was done with a sponge and dishwashing detergent. I can see
what happened. Water sealed the bacteria temporarily into the cuts in
the wood by making it swell.

I might ask if they tried any wooden boards that had been used for a
thousand meals. I think they would have cuts that wouldn't seal by
swelling.

They said it was in some cases possible to disinfect a wood board, but
not plastic, in a microwave. That sounds biased. You would have to
have a wooden board that would fit in your microwave and be willing to
risk it. Meanwhile, why couldn't it be done with plastic?

They said plastic could be cleaned effectively in a dishwasher, so the
real problem is that cleaning with a sponge and dishwashing detergent is
lame. Diswashing detergent won't remove stains from my white cutting
board, but bleach and baking soda works in seconds. It should be
equally effective on bacteria.

A statistical study found that people with plastic or glass cutting
boards were equally likely to get salmonella poisoning. Wait a minute,
glass wouldn't have cuts! People with glass or plastic boards were
twice as likely as average to get salmonella poisoning, while people
with wooden boards were half as likely.

The study also found that it made no difference if the person cleaned
the board after cutting raw meat. So a person who cuts raw chicken on
glass and washes it before cutting anything else is four times more
likely to get salmonella poisoning than one who cuts raw chicken on a
wooden board and then cuts other things without cleaning it!

A person who eats undercooked chicken is 23 times more likely to get
salmonella poisoning than one who doesn't. So I think the statistics do
not mean glass is unsafe. Rather, people with glass or plastic boards
are more likely to undercook their chicken.