Sinks Can Carry Deadly Bacteria: Clean Sinks Daily
The first things I learned about food safety from someone other than my mom was at school. A professional chef to come to my school to teach our class some basic knife skills and other food handling techniques. The most valuable thing he taught us was not how to make delicious spring rolls, but how to properly sanitize a kitchen before preparing food. Whenever you are going to be preparing food, you need to start with a clean, empty sink.
Interestingly, the kitchen sink harbors more bacteria than most places in your house.
Sinks need to be empty, so you can wash your hands, scrub dishes, and rinse produce. Before preparing food, empty your sink of any leftover dishes.
Steps for a clean sink
- Scrub away residual grime. You may need to use some dish soap to lift away oily residue, and don’t forget the elbow grease!
- Next, sanitize your sink with a diluted solution of bleach and water. To do this, fill the sink basin with hot water and add a proportionate amount of bleach (1/2 cup bleach to gallon water).
- Dip a sponge in the solution and wet the faucet handles and border of the sink.
- Let the solution sit for five minutes before rinsing. Five minutes gives bleach enough time to kill most microbes.
- After cleaning your sink, you are now ready to wash your hands, wipe down surfaces, WASH YOUR HANDS, begin preparing your food, and, you guessed it, wash your hands!
Tips for stainless-steel sinks:
Scratches in your stainless-steel sink can harbor bacteria, so you should take some time every once and a while to buff out your scuffed sink. Use a powdered stainless steel cleaner and a sponge to smooth out scratched. Protect your sink from grime by applying a light coat of mineral oil with a rag.
*One of the first-line measures to preventing food poisoning is to remember that sinks can carry deadly bacteria and need to be cleaned often and thoroughly!
