the_jake•9d agoMost Upvoted

I used to just scrape my cutting boards with a knife after service...

Started using a bench scraper and sanitizer spray after a health inspector dinged me for bacteria hiding in knife marks. Now I give them a full scrub with coarse salt and lemon between prep changes, has anyone else switched up their board routine?

3 comments

3 Comments

wadeyoung9d ago

Salt and lemon is more for smell than sanitizing, actually.

theabarnes8d ago

Wait, hold on, wait. I had no idea that was mostly for smell, I thought the lemon was doing some real germ killing in there! @wadeyoung I mean, I've definitely been using that trick on my cutting boards for years, just assuming the acid was doing something major. So is it basically just a nice scent and the salt is just scrubbing bits off, not actually killing bacteria? That's kind of a bummer, I feel like I've been lying to myself about how clean my kitchen is. Idk, I might have to rethink my whole cleaning routine now, maybe it's fine for a quick refresh but not for real sanitizing.

joseph5298d ago

Wait actually, the citric acid in lemon does help a tiny bit against some germs, it's just not strong enough to be a real sanitizer like bleach or vinegar would be. So you weren't totally wrong, just overselling it a little lol.