Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    The #1 Tool to Avoid Food Poisoning

    By Reader's Digest Magazine | Healthy Living – Thu, Dec 22, 2011 1:09 PM EST

    You always knew your dishwasher was convenient. But did you also know that it's one of your best allies in keeping your kitchen safe from contaminants? The dishwasher sanitizes everything that goes in it, says Bonnie Richmond, senior lecturer in food safety and sanitation at the Hotel School at Cornell University, if you use the dry cycle. During that cycle, the internal temperature of the dishwasher reaches 170°F, which is required for sanitizing. (Sanitizing is the process of reducing harmful microbes to an acceptable level. Sterilizing is the process of removing all living organisms - something we can't aspire to in our own homes.)

    Here's Richmond's first rule of thumb: Run anything through the dishwasher that can go into it, including plateware, glassware, flatware, plastic cutting boards, and sponges. Anything that touches raw meat and fish, or their juices or blood, should be placed in the dishwasher immediately. That means if you use a sponge to wipe up the counter where meat juices have spilled, you should toss it right in the dishwasher and get out a clean one. At the very least, your sponges should go into the dishwasher every time you run it. Be sure to keep a backup supply on hand so you are not tempted to use a dirty one.

    PLUS: 8 Places Germs Hide in Your Home

    One thing you can't put through the dishwasher is your hands. Always keep a bar of soap or soap dispenser next to the kitchen sink. To ensure that you are not spreading contaminants, wash your hands thoroughly whenever you enter the kitchen, between each kitchen task, and before you leave the kitchen.

    Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter

    Must-Read: How 23 Normal People Are Changing the World

    Plus:
    13 Things Your Mall Santa Won't Tell You
    20 Secrets Your Waiter Won't Tell You
    15 Foods You Should Never Buy Again
    11 Biggest Red Flag Words on Packaged Foods
    13 Things Your Barista Won't Tell You
    13 Things Your Dentist Wants You to Know
    13 Things a Movie Theater Employee Won't Tell You
    13 Hotel Secrets You Should Know
    13 Things the Pizza Guy Won't Tell You
    19 Weight Loss Secrets From Around the World

    Get more insider secrets     and sign up for our newsletters.


    Loading...
     
     
    Top Locations Philadelphia Dallas Louisville Tampa Atlanta Los Angeles Richardson New York Denver Houston Chicago

    2,200 comments

    • Mike
      Mike  •  Harrison, Arkansas  •  29 days ago
      just use some pure common sense! i don't own a dishwasher either. i'm not dead yet. i wash with dish soap in the sink, and no sanatizer. and what gets me is all this talk about sanitizer - you go to lots of stores and places now and they got hand sanitizer in bathrooms now and sanitizer wipes for shopping carts. sheesh! have we gotten that paranoid about germs? germs are going to get on you regardless of what you do! get over it.
    • Delphine
      Delphine  •  State College, Pennsylvania  •  1 month 25 days ago
      Just use common sense, there seems to be a shortage of that.
    • J Smith
      J Smith  •  Ocala, Florida  •  1 month 26 days ago
      I cannot believe I am alive since I never owned a dishwasher.
    • The shelby Family
      The shelby Family  •  Richardson, Texas  •  1 month 25 days ago
      ok this article is contridicting the one posted before this one that says that the dishwasher contains mold since it is hot moist and dark.... So is it safe or is it a mold factory
    • Tee
      Tee  •  1 month 26 days ago
      The only time I got food poisoning at home was when I brought home food from a fast food restaurant!
    • Mike
      Mike  •  Los Angeles, California  •  1 month 26 days ago
      why arent I dead yet? I dont have a dishwasher!
    • BrittanyS
      BrittanyS  •  1 month 26 days ago
      Okay, great. So what if we can't afford a dishwasher and/or don't/never had one? I guess we'll just get food poisoning the rest of our lives according to Yahoo.

      Word of advice: keep things that come into contact with raw meats, fish and poultry away from everything else, preferably on a separate counter or workplace. If possible, set aside a section of the sink for washing these utensils and such immediately after use. Another tip for people with a sink: heat the water you are going to use in a large pan then pour it into the sink, for as mentioned in the article, 170 degree water or higher is necessary for sanitation. Let the water steam up really well, possibly near boiling, and you've got that covered. Like someone else on here said, cross contamination is a big thing, so remember to keep things separate, even when you're washing them.
      Use antibacterial dish soap, rinse and dry the dishes and surfaces well, and you've got an easy way to take care of that food poisoning. Sanitize those surfaces you used, as well as those that may have come into contact arbitrarily. You can't be too safe with that. Create another sinkful (spelling?) of water to soak out any rags or sponges. Make sure you also sanitize the sink itself, typically with something like Clorox Clean Up or a similar product.
      Oh yeah, and make sure you cook the food right in the first place. No rare meats for you, and if you do eat them.... well, that's your fault. Only thing that can help you then is a nice hospital...
    • JohnP
      JohnP  •  1 month 26 days ago
      Hum, now that I sold everyone a dishwasher and convinced them to wash their hands more than Hamlet's mother, I should go into the hand lotion business.
    • no. 1 realist
      no. 1 realist  •  1 month 26 days ago
      how did we survive before the era of dishwashers...ahh.. maybe we never ate meat .. lol.. This article is #$%$. our bodies can handle a lot more then you think.
    • J
      J  •  1 month 26 days ago
      The government will soon ban food since it occasionally poisons us.
    • MAXMO68
      MAXMO68  •  Louisville, Kentucky  •  1 month 26 days ago
      My grandmother is 90 years old NEVER owned a dishwasher,cooked with LARD, and played ALL Day in the sun,the key to life she told me was........oh never mind!
    • rusty c
      rusty c  •  Bellingham, Washington  •  1 month 26 days ago
      I don't have a dishwasher
    • bork
      bork  •  Tallahassee, Florida  •  1 month 26 days ago
      I guess we were all dying left and right before the dishwasher came along.
    • Milton
      Milton  •  Athens, Greece  •  1 month 26 days ago
      thanks gang for the hilarious comments and replies...laughed all the way through them !
    • Charles
      Charles  •  Alpharetta, Georgia  •  1 month 25 days ago
      dampen your sponge. put in microwave for appx 1 minute. Microbes dead.
    • sherry
      sherry  •  1 month 26 days ago
      I was debating about whether or not to open up this article, for fear it was another one of Yahoo's obvious time-wasting ones with eye-catching titles. Needless to say, I chose the wrong option...
    • bobby
      bobby  •  Houston, Texas  •  1 month 26 days ago
      never got food poison at home always been while eating out.
    • gregL
      gregL  •  Wallingford, Connecticut  •  1 month 26 days ago
      Why did the Cave men live they ate on the run and mostly raw meat and even sometime bad meat according to our standards. This is why the CDC and The health Department get more money every time even if they don’t need it’.
    • The Lizard
      The Lizard  •  Miami, Florida  •  1 month 26 days ago
      another dumb article for dumb people.....OF COURSE WASHING YOUR HANDS IS THE BEST SOLUTION!!!!! weren't we all taught that as kids....
    • startover
      startover  •  1 month 29 days ago
      the problem is we listen to all this hype about food contamination,it has always been there.but we dont let our immune system work like it was supposed to and you will get sick.i have seen people eat things that would send anyone to the hospital but if you have a working immune system it will get the bugs out of your system.
     Post a comment

    DAILY SHOT VIDEO