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by Judy
Stouffer, B.S., M.S., SFO
You can make your kitchen a cleaner,
safer place and fight bacteria, without exposing yourself
and your family to toxic chemicals that also damage the
environment. You can use a simple
safe disinfecting spray that is more
effective than any of the commercial cleaners
in killing bacteria. As a bonus, it is inexpensive!
Susan Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, worked out the
recipe for just such a sanitizing combo. All you need is
three percent hydrogen peroxide, the same strength available
at the drug store for gargling or disinfecting wounds, and
plain white or apple cider vinegar, and a pair of brand
new clean sprayers, like the kind you use to dampen laundry
before ironing.
If you're cleaning vegetables or fruit,
just spritz them well first with both the vinegar and the
hydrogen peroxide, and then rinse them off under running
water.
It doesn't matter which you use first
- you can spray with the vinegar then the hydrogen peroxide,
or with the hydrogen peroxide followed by the vinegar. You
won't get any lingering taste of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide,
and neither is toxic to
you if a small amount remains on the produce.
As a bonus: The
paired sprays work exceptionally well in sanitizing counters
and other food preparation surfaces -- including wood cutting
boards.
In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed
virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria
on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this
fashion, making this spray combination more effective at
killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine
bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.
The best results came from using one
mist right after the other - it is 10 times more effective
than using either spray by itself and more effective than
mixing the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in one sprayer.
Science
News August 8, 1998; Vol. 154, Issue. 6; pg. 83-85
Copyright
Information:
Copyright © March
1999 Judy Stouffer. All rights reserved. This article may
not be reprinted, copied or published anywhere, including
in any electronic format, without specific permission from
Judy Stouffer, B.S., M.S., SFO. If you have questions about
the content of this article, or would like to reprint it
in electronic or print form, please contact me at: Judy@m-net.arbornet.org.
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