The dirty truth is that your kitchen sink can have more germs than the toilet in your bathroom.
Common bacteria found in the kitchen include E. coli, salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, norovirus and hepatitis A. E. coli can survive for hours on a surface, salmonella can survive for about four hours and hepatitis A can survive for months.
We often wash our hands in the kitchen sink, but when doing that you could be making the sink dirty? The bacteria is washed into the sink and drain. Between prepping and cleaning, the kitchen is an active incubator for bacteria.
Kitchen sinks are full of germs. If you think about it, everything is slopped into it. This, coupled with washing contaminated items such as knives and chopping boards used for raw meat, may be cause for concern. If you then fill the sink with water and wash a lettuce, there is a risk you are contaminating your lettuce. The same goes for plates and cups. That’s why dogs drink water out of the toilet bowl!
So what can you do to minimise the risk of contamination from your sink? Disinfect it from time to time, preferably using an antibacterial cleaner, and wash vegetables under running water rather than filling up the sink.
