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36 Comments
- gohoos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Good article.
I also use a diluted bleach formula for the sink and countertops. 1 tablespoon per quart of water in a spray bottle does the trick.
Food poisoning is no fun. - Wartex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Won't someone PLEASE think of the bacteria??
- dj_sea2005, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1^^ LMAO!!!
to me truthful i have a feeling it would! or you could just wait 2-3days before re-using it to make sure your tadpoles are dead. and then nuke them :D - gamabunta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I did a science project on this. It really seemed to kil Salmonella and E.Coli after u nuked a sponge for 20-30 sec. I usually do it for 40 now, just to be safe.
- Tobey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't know, seems like allot of work... I've using my sponges microwave free for years and I'm not dead yet.
- ,,|,_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0...or you might end up with some new, radioactive, mutant microbes.
- zoltan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ill be sure to microwave little sparky next time he gets dirty
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So far I've heard the kitchen dirtier than the bathroom arguement on a TV show about germs and various biased sources. The kitchen is bigger than the bathroom and often people clean their bathrooms as if it were the spot where the second coming was going to take place. I'd like to see some corroberating evidence, like from the journal Science or a more hard science source, that we should fear the kitchen more than anywhere else in the house from an article that doesn't have the air of fear mongering surrounding it. It makes for dramatic TV and reading, but I wonder what the in-depth facts of it are. I'm not saying the kitchen isn't a cesspool (comparitively. "Cesspool" was used for hyperbole), but what about the rest of the house? A faulty basement for instance. Or worse yet, an unfinished basement with black mold growing everywhere.
Don't flame me, I'm just being skeptical and it's healthy to be skeptical, even of things that at first glance sound logical. - rewritable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So.... Can I since I dont have a dishwasher can I microwave my silverware to get them uber clean?
- almostmanda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, giga, if you had read one paragraph further, you would have gotten to the part about microwaving sponges.
- clharlem149, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is common sense, you leave living things in the mocrowave long enough and their water starts to boil and they die. and btw, this is killing things, not cleaning them.
- Swipe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe we should think about microwaving our toothbrushes too
- Steel_Blue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0my mom does that... it's also good for making the caked on stuff inside the microwave easier to come off.
- himthatwas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've done this when cleaning my microwave. It's a nasty smell. I tend to buy cheap sponges and don't really need to burn them.
- Tobey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Eew...
- daak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good, useful article
- brettotte1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is SO OLD NEWS. i've nuked my sponges for years, re-insert, re-use
- tarun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0First thing, the neat freaks are the one's always getting sick. That's because there is such a thing as too clean for your immune system. Some exposure to germs is a healthy way to keep you immune system sharp.
I'm not a doctor.
Also, this article is dated September 14, 1996. Wow, was the Internet still around back then? j/k :) - mikereads, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dude, I did this as a junior high science fair experiment once. 99% of bacteria was killed in under 30 seconds. Its the quickest way I know to sterilize something. This is just on petri dishes though. (My dad has his own laboratory so I always had some expensive zainy science fair projects.)
- fugitivALiEN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow folks, i guess i just buy myself new sponges when the old one gets all nasty... have you seen the bottom of my microwave? yikes ;) i think the magnetron keeps it germinated....
- zediker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0you know, im wondering when the microbe/bacterial equivalent of PETA will be formed. what would it be called? PETM? PETB? I like PETB because it sounds like PETA 2.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0How much are sponges nowadays, why not just use a new one?
- redpoint73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is no shock to anyone who has worked in the restuarant industry. Heating to something to around 160 degrees F will kill nearly all harmful bacteria. There is nothing special about the microwave. You are just boiling the bacteria to death. You can do the exact same thing in a pot of water on your stove top.
- ebob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I tried to microwave SpongeBob once, but that squirrel bit me.
- Mexrocker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0what about anitbacterial soap? can I still use that to clean, then can I nuke?
- Tobey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Nah, I just throw my toothbrush in the dishwasher once in a while. Good as new.
- outz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Bleach?
- ddonahue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Um, as useful as this information is, this is a little dated. It was Published on September 14, 1996.
Normally I prefer the lag between reporting and notification to be a few days vs. 9 years.
(Please see numerous Slashdot posts for a wealth of snide comments and sarcastic "Notification: Significantly event in ancient history just happened!" notices). - dimplemonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0great digg, especially to those who are germophobes.
- riffst3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Would this work on semen? It'd be great for reusable condoms.
- nuxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0useful knowledge, ***** site.
- comat0se, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Cook's Illustrated recommended this method in one issue of their magazine. The next issue had a note from the editor not recommending this techinque due to several people complaining that their sponges caught on fire!
Proceed with caution. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Boiling water is the main thing to do to kill bacteria. That's been proven time and time again.
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Using a dishwater will kill nearly all bacteria, with or without detergent. Dishwaters have their own heating elements in them, and the water gets hot enough to heat up everything, sterilizing the items.
If you lack a dishwasher, use an antibacterial soap on your dishes.
But for the most part, don't go insane. Living in a sterile environment is a good way to lower your immune response. Those critters provide a workout for your normal body defenses. Admittedly, don't be a slob, but simple precautions are more than enough to keep you safe. The idea is to be clean, not necessarily sterile.
As for the kitchen being worse than the bathroom, this is true mainly because you do a lot more with your hands in the kitchen. The hands are the dirtiest part of the human body, they touch everything and pick up germs from everywhere. Then they transfer to the items in your kitchen. Wash your hands as appropriate and you eliminate like 85% of the contamination vector.
So use that dishwasher. Throw the sponge in there with the other dishes if you have a sponge. Or just use a washcloth like I do, then wash the cloth with your laundry like everything else. - giganerd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Actually, if you read the article, they microwave cutting boards, not sponges. Also, you might try capitalizing now and then.
- micromause, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Too lazy to read that.
