Think the lounge gave you food poisoning, try the toilet hand dryer!

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Absolute myth, in fact from Plastic, Marble and Wood options, wood has the least growth from boards poorly washed, plastic the most!

UC-Davis Food Safety Laboratory: Cutting Board Research

I don't use plastic either. But I deduce that Medhead does. Unless he paints his wooden ones. Interesting concept.
That test really is only comparing one porous surface to another.

My wife tends to cut something up on the chopping board and then leaves it until the cleaning fairies magically clean it. Hence my plate system. They are always clean.
 
I don't use plastic either. But I deduce that Medhead does. Unless he paints his wooden ones. Interesting concept.
That test really is only comparing one porous surface to another.

My wife tends to cut something up on the chopping board and then leaves it until the cleaning fairies magically clean it. Hence my plate system. They are always clean.

I would make the suggestion that chopping on plates would be akin to Marble:

Which chopping board is worse for spreading germs?
 
Marble, like granite, is porous. Spill some beetroot on a stone benchtop and see what happens if you leave it.

Plate are ceramic. A glass chopping board would be not porous, but I wouldn't feel comfortable cutting on glass. I can see little glass chips flying off.
 
We used to use an old piece of kitchen bench cut into a chopping board. One board, all food types, never had a problem.
 
A glass chopping board would be not porous, but I wouldn't feel comfortable cutting on glass. I can see little glass chips flying off.

Not at all. They are purpose made, readily available and quite cheap. We use them all the time.

Can't find a non-commercial reference, but any google search on "Ashdene surface saver" will turn up any number of shops that will sell them for around $11-$12 each. Lots of homewares stores have them as well.
 
A glass chopping board would be not porous, but I wouldn't feel comfortable cutting on glass. I can see little glass chips flying off.

I had a glass one for a while and hated it. It's horrible to chop on and when you scrape leftovers off it, it's akin to fingernails down a blackboard.... screeeeech!

It didn't chip though.
 
Well to all the PPs out there(Paranoid people) channel10 today had a good one on the"doctor's Show".Kitchen knife blocks grew more bacteria than the surrounds of a toilet.

Everything seems grows more bacteria than a toilet, but that's mainly because what a toilet is made from (a toilet is typically non porous). That said considering from a germ point of view there are so many "dangerous" things out there, people seem to get sick very infrequently.


I had a glass one for a while and hated it. It's horrible to chop on and when you scrape leftovers off it, it's akin to fingernails down a blackboard.... screeeeech!

It didn't chip though.

We had a few of them, likewise I hated it. We now use a plastic one. Yes little bits of food can get caught in the pores, but that is why it gets washed in very hot water once I have finished using it, or I am switching from cutting meat to cutting something else.
 
I had a glass one for a while and hated it. It's horrible to chop on and when you scrape leftovers off it, it's akin to fingernails down a blackboard.... screeeeech!

It didn't chip though.

Yep - had a glass one in the past. Hated it.
 
Might be a bit late but FWIW here's my input to this thread...........

Probably like most of you, when I am at home I know that all members of my family have been taught good hygeine practices so risk is therefore minimal.

But when I am in public places the whole game changes because there is potential to swap bacteria, viruses etc with so many people whose hygeine practices are completely unknown. It's a safe bet that at least some of them are likely to have hygeine practices that wouldn't make them welcome in my home though. I don't know if the person who touched the door handle or basin tap before me had some bug like Hep C or E. coli on his hands but I do know that, given the multitude of people who use public toilets, someone amongst them certainly would have.

A lot of bugs such as Flu viruses are primarily airborne so there's limited options for you to avoid them (even face masks have limitations) but there's a lot of others which are transmitted via direct contact with fomites (things like door handles, taps etc). The typical scenario is that an E. coli carrier touches door handle and deposits bugs; you touch handle after him/her and get the bugs on your hands; then it's pretty easy for the bugs to get to your mouth when you are eating etc.

So I suggest you should all be a bit circumspect about how you practice hygeine in public toilets, despite the fact that it may be contrary to what you generally regard as standard procedure. I now take the attitude that my "bits" are likely to have been maintained in far cleaner condition than a lot of other peoples' hands so I try to avoid touching anything that strangers have. For example I only use taps with on/off sensors or handles I can turn off with my elbow. I then dry my hands with my handkerchief. If I have to turn the tap handle I just won't use it. Do I instinctively want to wash my hands? Certainly! But not if it means swapping germs with that bloke who thinks "Hygeine" is just another name for a tall woman.
 
I may be naive here but I don't see the logic in using your elbows to turn a tap instead of your hands?
 
You only use your elbow if its a tap with a blade-type handle which goes side to side rather than turning. Ever seen the taps doctors use in TV shows when scrubbing before surgery?
 
You only use your elbow if its a tap with a blade-type handle which goes side to side rather than turning. Ever seen the taps doctors use in TV shows when scrubbing before surgery?

Yes, but there is a difference of level of hygiene required between the average person and a Dr who is about to put their hands inside someone / touch something which is about to go inside someone (eg a syringe) / or touch people who have the very real possibility of being highly infectious.
 
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You're more likely to touch your mouth and face with your hands than your elbows....I hope!
 
Not sure what your point is harvyk.............haven't you seen blade handled taps in public toilets? I have, many times. The reference to taps used by surgeons on TV was simply a visual clue that people, who might not automatically know what an elbow operable tap looks like, could hopefully relate to. It was not meant to in any way suggest that there is a correlation between the standard of hygeine practised in public toilets and that practised by medicos in the performance of their job - which are obviously worlds apart.
 
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