Plastic vs. Wood Cutting Boards
Q: Do you have an answer to the plastic vs. wood cutting board debate?
A: Anything that touches your food can be a source of contamination and foodborne illness – including cutting boards. For example, if you cut up a raw chicken, and then use the same cutting board to slice a tomato for your salad, you run the risk of cross-contamination – with bacteria from the chicken being transferred to the tomato. That, of course, would be bad. Vegetarians aren’t off the hook either. Fruits and vegetables can also carry pathogens and transfer them to cutting boards. To reduce the risk of foodborne illness in your kitchen, here are some things you should know about cutting boards.
For a long time, most (if not all) cutting boards were made of wood. But at some point people began using plastic cutting boards. The idea was that they were easier to clean (and sanitize), and therefore were safer. But in the late 1980s, a UC Davis researcher named Dean Cliver – the de facto godfather of cutting board food safety – decided to investigate whether plastic cutting boards really were safer. Answer: not really. Plastic cutting boards, Cliver found, are easier to sanitize. But cutting on them also leaves lots of grooves where bacteria can hide. Wood is tougher to sanitize, but it’s also (often) tougher in general – you won’t find as many deep scratches in the surface.
In addition, researchers have discovered that the type of wood your cutting board is made from also makes a difference. “Hardwoods, like maple, are fine-grained, and the capillary action of those grains pulls down fluid, trapping the bacteria – which are killed off as the board dries after cleaning,” says Ben Chapman, a food safety researcher at NC State. “Soft woods, like cypress, are less likely to dull the edge of your knife, but also pose a greater food safety risk,” Chapman explains. “That’s because they have larger grains, which allows the wood to split apart more easily, forming grooves where bacteria can thrive.”
Which type of cutting board should you use? Plastic cutting boards are your best option for meat and wood cutting boards for fruit, vegetables, or any ready-to-eat foods, such as bread or cheese.
Plastic cutting boards can be placed in the dishwasher, where they can be sanitized by washing at high temperatures. But wood cutting boards would quickly be ruined by a dishwasher, and not everyone owns one. If you’re washing a cutting board by hand, you should rinse the debris off the cutting board, scrub the cutting board with soap and water and sanitize the cutting board.
For plastic cutting boards, you should use a chlorine-based sanitizer, such as a solution of bleach and water (one tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water). But for wood cutting boards, you should use a quaternary ammonium sanitizer, such as a solution of Mr. Clean and water (follow the dilution instructions on the label).
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