Shanina Knighton, adjunct associate professor at Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, shared her tips on where bacteria hides in your kitchen and what you can do about it.
We're all aware of many areas in our kitchen that can become havens for germs: the telltale aromatic sponge, the trash can that's probably overdue for a good disinfecting, and the grimy inside of the microwave that's probably covered in spatter and in need of a deep clean. But unfortunately even the most fastidious among us probably aren't attending to a number of other, more mysterious places in our kitchens that are also prone to bacteria.
"Most people know the usual kitchen bacteria hotspots, but some of the worst offenders are the ones you don't even think about," says Dennis Littley, chef and recipe expert at Ask Chef Dennis. Moisture traps, warm zones, high-touch areas, and specific kitchen devices where splatter is out of your line of sight are all culprits for hidden bacteria. Littley and other kitchen and cleaning experts chime in on nine surprising places in your kitchen where bacteria may be lurking.
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Another kitchen tool that comes into regular contact with food is your can opener. Just because it's a tiny blade tip coming into contact with your stewed tomatoes doesn't mean it won't get contaminated if you're not cleaning it after using it.
"Food particles get stuck and rot," says Shanina Knighton, PhD, Research Associate Professor in Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
To prevent this from happening, "simply rinse your can opener after each use with hot, soapy water, Knighton says. The mechanism can be susceptible to rust, so try to dry it as much as you can before putting it away, and consider replacing it every so often.