How to Clean & Sanitize a Plastic Cutting Board

It's very important that you keep your plastic cutting board clean and sanitized.

A cutting board is one of the kitchen's most useful tools and provides a clean surface for you to cut meats, fruits or vegetables. Keeping the cutting board clean and sanitized is very important toward preventing the spread of germs and bacteria. Luckily, cleaning a plastic cutting board is very easy, but it should be done after nearly every use.

Things You'll Need

• Rubber gloves
• Liquid dishwashing soap
• Sponge with rough side
• Scrubbing brush
• Bleach

Instructions

1. Put on the rubber gloves. These will protect you from the bleach you'll be using later on.

2. Place the plastic cutting board under running hot water.

3. Squirt some dishwashing soap onto a scrubbing pad and vigorously scrub the larger particles off the board.

4. Scrape off any tougher stains or particles with the rough side of a sponge. Press down firmly to remove stubborn food particles.

5. Apply about 1/4 cup of bleach to a sponge and thoroughly wipe down the cutting board. The bleach will further disinfect the surface.

6. Wash the plastic cutting board in your dishwasher as you would any other dish to complete the cleaning.

Tips & Warnings

• Thoroughly rinse the bleach from the sponge when finished or it will corrode the material.

References

• Care2: How to Clean Cutting Boards
• What's Cooking America: How to Maintain and Sanitize Cutting Boards