So what type of cutting board do you use in your house?
I'm so confused by all the facts; I have both a wooden and plastic cutting board.
Which one I use depends mostly on what I'm cutting because one is bigger than the other. (See my page on How to Buy a Cutting Board)
My confusion started when I received an email a while back that I got me thinking; wood or plastic? Although I have always enjoyed the look of a butcher-block cutting board over the milky white plastic ones, I thought the plastic ones were safer. Then I received an email from David in Toronto that changed my viewpoint. He wrote,
"You should use a hard wood cutting board for the sake of your knives and for sanitary reasons. The myth is that wooden boards are so porous that harmful organisms such as salmonella, e-coli and listeria soak in, are hard to remove, and easily contaminate other foods placed upon it later.
The myth has been compounded with the belief that plastic, because it is not porous, can be more easily and safely cleaned. These beliefs were so widely held by everyone including health officials that no one actually bothered to test them until 1993. Microbiologists at the University of Wisconsin's Food Research Institute contaminated wooden cutting boards and plastic ones with all bacteria that cause food poisoning.... Guess what?
Without washing, without touching it, the bacteria on the wooden board died off in three minutes. On the plastic board? The bacteria remained and actually multiplied overnight. It seems wood has a natural bacteria-killing property, plastic and glass don't."
So I put away all my gorgeous wooden cutting boards and only worked on plastic. Then I received an email from Jarvis who graduated from University of Wisconsin many years ago with a Food Science and Foodservice Masters. He was a licensed instructor for his health department's sanitation course before he switched professions and said,
"Many years ago, I read the report you mentioned on your web site regarding wood vs. plastic cutting board. The result totally contradicted what we were taught (and taught to our students). We serious doubted the methodology used for the research. However we were switching our profession and were too lazy to search the original paper to find out the truth. After I read your web, I decided to search for further document and found the following report. I hope that you can change your article on the web site or at least to have this newer report listed at the same page. Thank you."
The report was from Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the University of Arizona and said: One study reported that new wooden boards had antimicrobial qualities while plastic cutting boards trapped bacteria. However, more recent studies by the Food and 
Drug Administration found that microorganisms became trapped in wood surfaces and were difficult to dislodge by rinsing. Once trapped, bacteria survive in a dormant stage for long periods of time. The next time the cutting board is used; these bacteria could contaminate other foods, potentially causing food-borne illness. On the other hand, the study found that microorganisms were easily washed off plastic surfaces. http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/health/foodsafety/az1076.html
OK, are you totally confused yet? I decided to do some of my own research on the Internet and here are some other points of view:
From Karen Penner, Ph.D., Extension Specialist, Food Science, 2/94: The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture has concluded that the use of plastic cutting boards over those made of wood is still the best approach. The researchers reported that wooden cutting boards contained more organisms from temperature-abused meat when compared to boards made of plastic. Other studies had reported that certain woods contain natural antimicrobial agents. The ARS study, however, found higher bacterial levels on wooden cutting boards regardless of contact time. http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_fnut/_timely/WOODVP.HTM
This came from the Michigan Maple Block web site: Why wood: Now wood's back in vogue, and I couldn't be happier. According to a scientific study published in 1994 focusing on home kitchens, bacteria don't care for wood. When deposited on several kinds of wood and left alone, food poison contaminants e. coli, listeria, and salmonella, disappeared (99.9% gone!) over time. Plastic doesn't seem to have this antibacterial effect. http:www.mapleblock.com/cuttingboard.html
From Patrick J. Bird, Ph.D. at the University of Florida, 1998 "Although the Food and Drug Administration has long recommended plastic cutting boards, based on the observation that it not as hard to clean plastic as porous wood, new information shows that wood cutting boards are actually safer than the plastic or so-called anti-bacterial kind.
About four years ago, it was discovered that it is easier to recover live bacteria from a plastic cutting board than from one made of wood. This because through the capillary action of dry wood, germs quickly disappear beneath the surface of the board, leaving the exposed area free of microbes. In contrast, bacteria sit on the hard plastic cutting board surface, ready to attack the next food item. Also, hand scrubbing with hot water and soap can clear microbes from the surface of new or used wooden cutting boards and new plastic ones, but knife-scared plastic boards are resistant to decontamination by hand washing." http://www.hhp.ufl.edu/keepingfit/ARTICLE/BOARDS.HTM
So where does this all leave the Reluctant Gourmet? I will use my plastic cutting board for large cutting jobs and my wooden one for smaller ones. Bottom Line - No matter what you use, keep them clean!
I can't promise I can be as diligent as the Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the University of Arizona suggests below, but I can commit to being more aware of how I clean and store them. They suggest:
- Keep all cutting boards clean by washing with hot soapy water and a brush after each use. Then rinse and air-dry or pat dry with paper towels. Non-porous acrylic, plastic, glass, and solid wood boards can be washed in an automatic dishwasher.
- Sanitize both wood and plastic cutting boards with a diluted chlorine bleach or vinegar solution consisting of one teaspoon of liquid chlorine bleach in one quart of water or a one to five dilution of vinegar. Flood the surface with a sanitizing solution and allow it to stand for several minutes, then rinse and air-dry or pat dry with paper towels.
- Discard excessively worn cutting boards.
- Use a separate cutting board and knives for raw foods that require cooking. For example, use one for meat, poultry, or fish, and another for cooked or ready-to-eat foods such as salad, vegetables, and breads.
If you have any additional information on this subject that you would like to share, please send me an email with cutting boards in the subject. I would love to hear from you.
The Reluctant Gourmet Suggests Looking at
Kitchen Universe.com -- Cutlery
Cooking.com's Cutlery and Cutting Boards
For some additional sources:
