This Is the Dangerous Mistake People Make When Doing Dishes

Unless you’re a microbiologist, you might not realize how many germs linger in your kitchen. Sure, we all do our best to wipe down the counters after cooking and not slice fresh fruit on the same cutting board as raw chicken—but there are other, lesser-known ways for bacteria to spread. Just think about the last time you fully cleaned your germ-covered salt and pepper shakers!

The same goes for your kitchen towels. You might spread germs with your dish towels every time you clean up.

What makes dish towels so dirty?

The abosrbency that makes kitchen towels effective is the same factor that makes them hazardous, holding in all the dampness and creating conditions for harmful bacteria to spread. If you use the same towel to dry your hands that you use to dry your dishes, you’re only compounding the issue, increasing the likelihood of fostering salmonella, E. coli and staph.

This 2015 study from Kansas State University observed subjects moving through the kitchen and found that towels were “the most contaminated of all the contact surfaces tested.” When we clean up the kitchen, those towels pick up contaminants. Then, when we wash our hands and dry them on the same towel, we transfer those contaminants back onto ourselves. The reverse is also true, where our nasty hands (and fingernails!) transfer gunk to our clean dishes via the towel used to dry them. Either way, not great.

How do I keep separate towels straight?

LIUDMILA CHERNETSKA/GETTY IMAGES

The issue of cross-contamination has an easy fix: Dedicate one towel in the kitchen to hands, one to dishes and one to countertops.  America’s Test Kitchen recommends a simple color-coding system so that everyone in the household knows which towel is for which purpose.

Even once everyone in the house learns to keep the different towels straight, that alone won’t keep your kitchen sanitary. You’ll also need to wash all the towels frequently enough to combat the spread of germs.

How do I clean dish towels?

Wash your dish towels and hand towels every day or every few days, depending on how much cooking you do and how much foot traffic your kitchen sees. Towels should be washed in hot water to kill any bacteria lurking in the fabric. Remove the towels from the washing machine promptly and send them through the dryer. Make sure they’re completely dry when removed because if they’re still damp, they’re more likely to foster bacteria. After using a towel while cooking, hang it somewhere that air can circulate and dry it fully. Folding it up or leaving it crumpled on the counter will keep it damp and more hazardous.

The Kansas State University study also noted another troubling kitchen habit: using our phones while cooking. Since our phones go with us just about everywhere, they, too, should be sanitized before using them to consult dinner recipes.