Micrococcus

• An important cleaning aid in most kitchens is the tea towel, also known as a dishcloth.
• But, because hands and uncooked fresh produce are often rich in a diverse variety of germs, tea towels are prone to picking up the bacteria they come into contact with.
• Several studies have looked at the germs tea towels typically carry in domestic kitchens.
• Tea towels are good at picking up germs which is important as another study of 46 kitchens found a wide range of harmful bacterial species living on kitchen surfaces, which are often cleaned by tea towels.

Clean your cloths

• These studies suggest there is an infection risk from tea towels and that most kitchen cloths may be contaminated with high levels of bacteria.
• Tea towels that are hung up in the air tend to dry faster than cloths stored and squeezed into balls, which can affect levels of bacteria in the towels.
• Laboratory experiments that involved covering tea towels in salmonella, found that the bacteria multiplied in all types of cloths that were crumpled.
• But levels of bacteria were reduced by 1,000 times if the tea towels were hung to dry for 24 hours at room temperature.

Reduce the germs

• To avoid tea towels spreading germs around the kitchen, it’s recommended that the cloths are washed regularly and when they get wet, are allowed to dry completely before being used again.
• Since proteins and fats are also involved in the attachment of bacteria to surfaces, laundry detergents will help to detach and so reduce bacteria levels in tea towels.
• You should also store your laundered tea towels in a dry, clean area, away from any uncooked food and grubby hands.