Good Lifestyle

Whether suspended from your oven door or rest on a wall hook, kitchen towels are essential to have at hand. Maybe you use yours to Dry your dishes , or maybe they double as a pots holder and a paper towel. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you keep your cooking towels or how you use them (within reasonable limits). What really matters is how you regularly clean these fabrics. Read the rest to discover how frequency you need to wash your kitchen towels, according to experts.

Read this then: What happens when you don't wash your sheets every week, doctors say .

Research has revealed that the fabrics we keep in our kitchen can be much dirty than we think. A study presented in the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in 2018 showed that cooking towels could contribute to the growth of potential pathogens which cause food poisoning. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

According to their results, almost 50% of the towels tested were positive for a certain type of bacterial growth, with 36.7 growth coliform bacteria (which may include E.coli ), and 14.3% growing Staphylococcus aureus , which is a type of staphylic infection.

This is why it is so important to clean them regularly, Francine L. Shaw , FMP, a Food security expert and CEO of SAVVY FOOD SAFETY, Inc., tells Better life .

“If kitchen towels are not washed quite often, they can become a reproductive ground for germs and present health risks. Bacteria like E. coli ,, Salmonella , And Staphylococcus aureus Can prosper on damp and dirty towels, "warns Shaw." If they are not properly eliminated, they can contaminate your hands, surfaces and foods. This can cause cross -contamination, cross contact and increase the probability of foods of food. ""

So how often should you wash them?

If you reuse your cooking towels more than once, you are actually going against the advice of certain experts. Nathaly Vieira , A cleaning expert And owner of the Home Cleaning Service Inspireclean, says that it recommends washing them after each use.

"The use of a fresh towel each time will help keep your kitchen surfaces clean and free from bacteria," explains Vieira.

Natalia Thompson , A kitchen expert And CEO of Flavorful Home, is also a defender of this frequency of cleaning.

"It is recommended to wash the kitchen towels every day to be completely safe," she said. "Each kitchen must give the utmost importance to food security, and a good starting point is to clean your kitchen towels every day."

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But if you are not ready to start doing a new laundry charge every day, don't worry. Diana Georgieva , A cleaning expert And the founder of the cleaning company based in London Wimbledon Cleaning Services, says that if cooking towels can be washed daily if they are used a lot, this should not be the case for everyone.

Instead, "tea towels in a modern household must be washed every two to three days," she recommends.

Chi ip , owner of the Boston base cleaning service Tidy here, says that some fabrics can even go up to seven days without being washed, depending on how they are used.

"If towels are used to dry dishes or hands, they can be washed once a week," explains IP. "If the towels are used to clean up the spills and other damage, we suggest that the towels are immediately rinsed and removed from any piece of food and debris to avoid any accumulation of bacteria."

Whether you are ready to adopt the cleaning lifestyle once a day or you will wait a little longer, there are specific things that you should monitor.

According to Shaw, there are revealing panels that indicate that it is time to wash your kitchen towel immediately - no matter how long it lasted. These include stains, unpleasant odors or a notable change in texture, she says.

"If the towel is sticky, oily or humid even after drying, it is probably contaminated and should be washed," notes Shaw.

She also says that there are certain situations that may require a more frequent cleaning cycle.

"For example, if a towel has been used to clean raw meat juices, it is advisable to wash it immediately to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria," Shaw suggests. "In addition, if you or someone in your household have been sick, it is advisable to wash the kitchen towels more frequently to minimize the risk of persistent germs on the fabric."