Everybody likes to joke about how they’ll never eat at That Restaurant anymore, because that restaurant received a bad food health inspection score.
Web Watch fully subscribes to this theory, having rejected restaurant after restaurant that we used to enjoy, after they received less than 60 out of 100 possible points on inspection scores.
Look, we get it – the health inspector has a job to do to protect the public health. But remember, whenever you see a food score – keep in mind that it was likely negotiated UP a few points. In other words, the score of “80” that you see pasted on the wall? Chances are it started out in the mid-60’s.
Yeech.
But it can be worse.
It could be YOUR kitchen that was being judged.
And according to a RECENT STUDY BY THE CDC and NSF, the MOST GERM-FILLED PLACE IN YOUR KITCHEN is the blender. Because nobody typically takes the blender completely apart to clean the gasket.
In fact, 25% of all items tested contained E.Coli bacteria. The can opener, the pizza cutter. Rubber spatulas – even the vegetable drawer in your refrigerator.
Salmonella was also found on 25% of the items tested, including the in-fridge water and ice dispensers, and the seals of food storage containers.
Yeast and mold were found on every single item tested.
Listeria was found on 10% of the items tested.
The places you should be most concerned about are:
- Refrigerator meat and vegetable compartments
- The blender
- Can opener
- rubber spatula
- rubber-sealed food storage containers
The NSF has provided a list of BEST PRACTICES FOR CLEANING YOUR KITCHEN to avoid contamination and bacteria, germs. Among their recommendations are:
- Keep your raw meat from dripping onto other foods while in the fridge or on the counter
- Completely take apart your blender and wash the gasket, blades, and everything else. Do this every, single, time
- Wash your can opener. Heck, toss the can opener you have and get a new one. Then be sure to keep it washed and clean after every use
- Rubber spatulas typically are in two parts – the handle and the spatula. Think about all that food that could get into that gap where they come together. Eeew. Clean it.
- Clean your refrigerator water dispenser, following your manufacturer’s recommendations.
- Clean your knife block
In essence – you need to clean everything much better than you think you are doing. And if you haven’t cleaned it recently (like your microwave control panel), it might be worth while to try cleaning it a bit more often than you have been.