When it comes to kitchen sinks, stainless steel is still the
cleanest, says a University of Georgia researcher.
To find the best sink type, Joe Frank, a food microbiologist
with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,
put today’s kitchen sink surfaces through food safety tests in
his lab.
New and Old Materials Tested
“So many new materials are being manufactured for kitchen
sinks,” Frank said. “We wanted to see how they stand
up to food pathogens that can be found in your home
kitchen.”
For the test, Frank compared sinks made of stainless steel,
mineral resin and polycarbonate plastic. All were tested in both
new and used conditions.
Frank exposed the sink surfaces to Staphylococcus
aureus,
a pathogen commonly found in household kitchens. “We
selected
S. aureus because it’s harder to kill,” he said.
The surfaces were exposed to the pathogen and then cleaned
with chlorine, ammonia, bleach and liquid sanitizers.
Abraded Surfaces Harder to
Clean
All abraded or used sinks were harder to sanitize. But Frank
found the hardest surface to clean was the mineral resin sink.
The easiest to clean, he found, was the new stainless steel
sink.
“New products, especially plastics, are really easy to
clean. But once a surface is abraded, it’s just harder to
clean,”
Frank said. “A new stainless steel surface is rougher
initially,
but it doesn’t abrade easily, either.”
Frank said all surfaces will become harder to sanitize the
more they’re used. Using proper cleaning supplies is the key to
keeping your kitchen sink free of harmful bacteria and reducing
your family’s risk of food-borne illnesses.
Clean and Sanitize
“Remember that a cleanser only removes bacteria,”
Frank said. “You have to use a sanitizer to kill
bacteria.”
UGA
food safety specialists recommend combination cleaning in the
kitchen.
“Always wash and clean your kitchen surfaces first with
a detergent solution,” said Elizabeth Andress, an Extension
Service food safety specialist with the UGA College of Family
and Consumer Sciences. “Then clean the surfaces with a
chlorine
bleach-solution spray.”
Andress said you can easily prepare a chlorine-solution spray
at home by mixing 1 tablespoon of bleach with a gallon of water.
“Then put the solution in a spray bottle and use it to spot
clean your kitchen surfaces,” she said.
She recommends using this solution within a few days. The
diluted
bleach solution will lose its strength when exposed to the air.
“It’s best to mix up a fresh solution each time you plan
to sanitize,” Andress said.
(Staphylococcus aureus image courtesy of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Sink image courtesy Advanced
Tabco
Inc.)
