As for the best cutting boards, however, which material is truly best for food prep safety?
Are plastic or wood cutting boards preferable? The answer might surprise you!
Plastic has long been considered superior to wood, and people have generally preferred this type of material in the name of food safety. The prevailing wisdom is that plastic is less hospitable to bacteria, and therefore, would be safer.
Research simply does not bear this out in practice, however. As it turns out, wood is much less likely to harbor pathogenic bacteria than plastic!
Wood by far makes for the best cutting boards!
The research was conducted by food microbiologists at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and they discovered that wood somehow killed bacteria that plastic did not. The manner in which the bacteria perished on the wood but not on the plastic is not known.
The scientists found that 3 minutes after contaminating a wooden cutting board, 99.9% of the pathogenic bacteria had died, while none of the bacteria died on plastic.
In addition, bacteria held at room temperature overnight on a plastic cutting board increased in number, but the researchers could not find any bacteria present on wood treated in exactly the same manner.
So it seems that the prevailing “wisdom” that plastic is safer than wood is not true after all. Wood cutting boards are best after all.
I was happy to discover this information as I have always intuitively preferred wood over plastic cutting boards. I find wood to be more stable than plastic and I have always thought that little bits of plastic or chemicals must be somehow released into the food from the repeated chopping with a knife. I have no evidence of this; it is just a hunch and so I have stayed away from plastic and have always stuck with wood.
I have steered clear of plastic cutting boards with special antimicrobial surfaces for a similar reason. Any product that boasts that it is antimicrobial screams “hormone disrupting chemicals” to me, so I avoid them like the plague.
For the best cutting boards, best to stick with old fashioned wood, and while you’re at it – choose bamboo if possible as it is a sustainable natural resource.
* As an aside, I have a theory about how the pathogenic bacteria are destroyed on the wood but not the plastic. Lactobacilli is a beneficial bacteria on the surface of all natural things, including our own skin, and it will kill off pathogens. This is why grassfed raw milk is safer than pasteurized as the probiotics in the raw milk kill off any pathogens that might get into it (pasteurized just gets contaminated if the same thing were to happen). Perhaps this is the same method for how pathogens on wood cutting boards are destroyed within 3 minutes yet this same thing does not happen on plastic cutting boards?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Wood Cutting Boards, not Plastic, are Safer for Food Prep
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Is Plastic Really Better than Wood for Cutting Boards? – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/Ds0zP1s
Oh thank god! Mine is wood.. lol. Do you know the best way to clean it?
I just wash mine in warm soapy water. Some folks use white vinegar which seems to be an excellent way to do it.
My parents used to have a wooden chopping block in their kitchen and they would slice a lemon in half and rub it around the wood.
Oops, I should clarify they used the lemon AFTER washing it with soap and water.
I’m curious about how a glass cutting board would fare. While they can be porous, wouldn’t you think with proper cleaning they’d be safe as well?
Thanks 🙂
I was wondering the same thing!
I use a glass cutting board all the time. LOVE it! Not porous, can go in the dishwasher and no gross chemicals.
I have no data on this but I have a small glass cutting board myself for cheese. I would imagine since it is a natural material like wood, that it would be comparable in safety.
I think the only issue with glass cutting boards is that they can dull your knives…….I don’t know this for a fact, it’s just something I’ve heard before and sounds reasonable 🙂
Rachel – this is absolutely true. I spent a small fortune on my first Global chef’s knife. A few months later it was so dull. I took it back to the knife store, where I bought it. The owner asked me -first thing- “what kind of cutting board do you use?” I told him glass. He said glass is terrible on knives…it dulls them quickly. I went home and put my glass cutting board in the Goodwill box.
I came to the realization years ago that if the FDA, USDA CDC or any other GOVT entity makes a claim on ANY health related topic, you can just go ahead & do the opposite & you will be on the right track. Think about it..keeping people sick keeps people employed in govt jobs..
I have a cutting board made of wood from a rubber tree..it’s really quite pretty. I can’t say the same of any plastic one I’ve ever seen.
BTW…do we want to know who is behind it all?
Most of the bamboo I’ve seen comes from China (like everything else). Any suggestions where to buy bamboo cutting boards? Does ‘made in China’ make a difference?
I don’t think made in China is a problem though domestically sourced bamboo would certainly be preferable. Bamboo grows like a weed so no matter how it’s harvested, it grows right back and very quickly from what I’ve read.
Is Plastic Really Better than Wood for Cutting Boards? – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/rzg643R
@ Jill diluted white vinegar in a spary bottle
spray
Actually..let me restate that..if the GOVT makes ANY claim whatsoever on anything..we know it isn’t true.
Sadly that is being more and more true.
we have wood and glass
I have a glass cutting board because it just *feels* safer, plus it is slim and can be lid away easily in my cabinet. 🙂 Wood sure is a lot prettier, though.
I have a glass cutting board for my cheese .. it so pretty I don’t generally use it and use my small bamboo one instead.
Although I own a couple of plastic cutting boards, wood is my preference. I had read about research a few years… http://t.co/D8LlRpq
Is Plastic Really Better than Wood for Cutting Boards? http://t.co/MPRLo5s http://bc.vc/TpGmY
lol, can you explain to me why bamboo is more sustainable than wood? That’s just propaganda to justify shutting down our logging industry and turn this country into a third world type so we’ll buy into the new world order. A shame that we just follow rather than think for ourselves. . . .
Bamboo grows really fast while hardwood trees that are cut down would take many years to regrow. My neighbor has bamboo and it grows like a weed. There is no doubt it is a better material to use than chopping down hundred year old trees! I am sorry it harms the logging industry but cutting down trees is not the way to go environmentally speaking!
Bamboo is more sustainable because it grows up very quickly. So if you chop it down to make something, you can grow it right back up and use it again in a matter of months. Trees do not grow as fast, so when you chop one down, it take a lot longer for it to grow back up to a usable size.
I personally don’t like bamboo cutting boards, I find them to be a slow surface to cut on.
With bamboo boards, what glue holds the small pieces together? Something healthful?
Thank you for the info!
I like using hot soapy water and letting it dry. Treating with olive oil helps keep it from cracking. I’ve used lemon juice when I feel like it’s needed. Hate the small plastic board that came with a set of knives I bought once.
I like using hot soapy water and letting it dry. Treating with olive oil helps keep it from cracking. I’ve used lemon juice when I feel like it’s needed. Hate the small plastic board that came with a set of knives I bought once. Check Etsy for some really nice wood ones. I’ve seen shops that have a wood business and then make boards out of their leftovers.
I never use soap on wooden utensils and boards. I rinse, dry and coat with virgin coconut oil (VCO). The medium chain fatty acids in the VCO are hostile to pathogens in addition to being an excellent wood treatment. It seems to me that soap is way overrated for wood and cast iron.
Ciao, Pavil
Pavil, thanks for that advice. Will do.