Let’s face it, this is a bacterial planet; Earth belongs to bacteria. Bacteria have been on the planet for between 2.3 and 2.7 billion years and can be found on the tops of mountains, the bottom of the deepest oceans, in the guts of animals, and even in the frozen rocks and ice of Antarctica. They must laugh derisively at the meagre distribution of the newcomer, humanity. Yet there are areas in which bacteria and humans co-exist, basically everywhere humans can make a go of it, and most of the time humans spend a lot of energy trying not to come into contact with bacteria and other microbes. We all place an emphasis on cleanliness especially when it comes to things, like food, that go into our bodies, yet according to a new study we might be doing all we need to when it comes to cleanliness in the kitchen.
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In the new study the researcher contaminated fruits and vegetables with common pathogens salmonella and E. coli. Then she cut into tomatoes, rockmelon, and other fruits and vegetables to see to what degree pathogens would be transferred from one food to another via the knife.
The results showed that knives can definitely cause cross-contamination from one food to another of they are not cleaned in between. When they tested vegetable graters they found the same thing; that if the grater was not washed then bacteria from the first food it grated would be transferred to another.
Interestingly, the results also showed that some foods were worse than others at transferring microbes. Tomatoes for instance were much worse than strawberries.
This might not be revolutionary but it is gentle little reminder that cleanliness may be next to godliness but in the kitchen it is also next to imperative.
