What is the Best Material for a Chopping Board and Health Safety Tips

In recent years it has become more apparent that different materials are being used for chopping boards but the ultimate factor to bear in mind is chopping board health safety. It seems that everywhere you look there is a different substance for a chopping board; from various types of plastic through to the many wooden varieties portraying the latest colors and trends to co-ordinate the equally decorative kitchens. However, this is all very well but the most crucial point is undoubtedly chopping board health safety.

For this reason, this is why plastic boards were thought to be the best option being non-porous whereas wooden chopping boards are porous and could attract damaging organisms such as e-coli, listeria and salmonella and able to contaminate any foods that they came into contact with. So once this was discovered, it resulted in wooden chopping boards being discarded and being replaced by the plastic type taking into account chopping board health safety. Then it was revealed that after certain tests had been undertaken by microbiologists at the University of Wisconsin's Food Research Institute, the wooden board was found to be safer than the plastic version.

It was discovered that wood possesses a natural bacteria-killing quality whereas plastic does not. It is known that germs disappear from the surface of wood and then perish rapidly resulting in the exposed area on the board being free from microbes. But the opposite occurs on a plastic board; the bacteria remains on the surface and generally increases resulting in any food placed on the plastic board to become infected.

Although researchers also found that by scrubbing with hot, soapy water this removed bacteria from the surfaces of both wooden and plastic chopping boards but it seems that any indentations and cutting marks retained on a plastic board are somewhat resistant to this process of scrubbing. However, if an antibacterial cleaner is used this could make the plastic board safer to use.

With these results in mind, probably the best way to address this issue of chopping board health safety is to ensure that whether a wooden chopping board or plastic board is used, an intense cleaning process must be adhered to by using hot water and detergent and then thoroughly drying the chopping board when not in use as bacteria cannot survive without moisture.