Your Kitchen’s Dirty Little Secrets

Your kitchen gleams. The counters sparkle, the stove top is buffed to a shine, the sink doesn’t even have any water spots. And the plates in the cupboard? Well, you could eat off them. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t spots where danger lurks in the form of bacteria. Here’s a roundup of four potential kitchen danger spots and ways to make sure you’re keeping them clean.
1. The Sink. When you soak or rinse plates, pots and pans before washing, food remnants come off and can deposit bacteria, especially in and around the drain and drain plug. Such bacteria can make you seriously belly-sick. The Fix: Scrub the sink once a day with a solution of bleach and hot water, let it run down the drain and then wash your hands.

2. Salt and Pepper Shakers. Sounds crazy, right? But a study at the University of Virginia found that 30 people who reported feeling as if they were coming down with a cold all had viruses on the surfaces of their household salt and pepper shakers. The Fix: As you wipe down the table after every meal, run a rag over the shakers, too. And then wash your hands.

3. Kitchen Sponges. Look, if we were made out of money, we’d throw out our kitchen sponges after every use. Of course the essential tool we use for removing dirty stuff from plates and pans is covered with dirty stuff. The Fix. Don’t consider your cleanup to be finished until you wash the sponge, too, preferably with bleach, or run through the microwave on high for 30 seconds.

4. Can Opener. These need to be treated like any other utensil in the kitchen: wash thoroughly after each use to eliminate the buildup of residue from the cans you open. All too often, folks open a can and then throw the opener back in the drawer. The Fix: Wash thoroughly by hand, then run through the dishwasher for extra measure.