A bit of extra cleansing effort can eliminate these contagions from your food preparation area, thereby preventing a mysterious sore throat, a cold, diarrhea, or even a life-threatening illness. Extra precautions are especially important if you share a kitchen with a non-vegetarian, and if a household member has a suppressed immune system or a modified gastrointestinal tract. Gerba found in a study that 68 percent carried at least one disease-causing pathogen. As for cutting boards, the kind made of pebbled glass simply require handwashing with hot soapy water.
Several studies show that wooden and plastic boards are harder to keep clean.
Dean Cliver, a microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, found that under normal use, bacteria lodge beneath the surface of wooden boards.