"Debbie Deutsch" wrote in message
. 97.132...
"Vox Humana" wrote in
:


"John White" wrote in message
om...
To my horror, I saw a family member knock a kitchen towel off the
rack onto the floor, then pick it back up and place it on the rack.


To be realistic, kitchen towels and sponges are vectors for the spread
of germs in your kitchen. I doubt that the germs on the floor are
more pathogenic than the germs on your counters. That probably seems
counter-intuitive, but I suspect it is true. You hands, sink, and
counter come into contact with contaminated food and the towel just
spread the contamination. The floor isn't as likely to have raw
poultry or eggs on it. I would just get rid of the towel instead of
finding a way to keep them around longer. I use paper towels for most
cleaning. When I do use a kitchen towel, I only use it once.




At the risk of controversy, people may be worrying too much about germs.
We don't live in a sterile environment, and never will. Some bacteria
can be very bad and following good procedure is important to minimize
their risk. The "bad" germs are mostly the ones that grow on and in
food, not the ones we associated with dirt or general things in the air.
For example, it makes good sense to keep a separate cutting board for raw
poultry and to thoroughly clean it, knives, your hands after each use.
On the other hand, there are plenty of other germs around, and our bodies
are designed to deal with them. Unless one's immune system is
compromised due to disease or other frailty, they are not a big deal.

That's sort of the point I was making. The germs on the floor probably
aren't the ones that we have to worry about. It's the germs on food like
raw poultry. A kitchen towel that is use to clean up counters and wipe
hands after food preparation is much more likely to spread serious pathogens
than a towel that touched the floor. I still maintain that the longer a
towel remains in the kitchen, the higher the likelihood that it will become
a vector for disease. I would simply get a clean towel to dry dishes or
clean up a mess and then put it in the laundry. Finding ways to prolong the
use of a towel is just asking for trouble in my opinion. It probably won't
land you in the hospital, but who need unnecessary bouts of diarrhea and
malaise that are associated with food born illnesses?