Living Green

Sponges can be friend and foe

The kitchen sponge: Friend or Foe? Actually, a little of both. A nice wet, warm, cushy sponge is Club Med for bacteria. However, the disinfectants impregnated into most cellulose sponges to kill these bacteria contribute to the mutant super drug-resistant germs popping up all over the place.

What’s a dirty countertop to do?

Start by checking the packaging. If your sponges say “Resist Bacterial Odors Through Anti-microbial Technology” they probably contain these disinfectants. More chemicals. Do you really want or need these chemicals? If not, you can find pure cellulose sponges without the disinfectants in many hardware and natural food stores.

But let’s talk about what you want your sponge to do. If your purpose is to prevent food-born illnesses, your antibacterial sponge may not be your best weapon. Most food-born illnesses are due to improper food preparation or storage - tasks that don’t involve your sponge.

If preventing food poisoning is your goal, thoroughly wash you food and make sure it has been stored properly. As for your sponge, boil it in water for 3-5 minutes to kill bacteria.

You my have heard about the “Microwave Sponge Trick.” Well, there was a study done and yes, the results showed that nuking your sponge does kill some bacteria. However, (and this is a BIG “however”) YOUR SPONGE MUST BE WET!!!!! Never, ever microwave a DRY SPONGE. It will probably catch on fire. You WILL feel foolish.

The moral of the story, from RangeMd.com:

“Microwaves may be good at sterilizing non-metallic, wet kitchen objects but sterility itself has not been proven to be a critical factor in preventing food born illness . . and to paraphrase Joseph Bessimer, there’s a moron born every minute.”