Totally Bamboo
Photo by 3R Living
(Part of my Green This House program.)
Even with its nightly spritzing of bacteria-squashing vinegar, a heavily scarred plastic cutting board, with deep grooves aplenty for germs to hide out and conspire, does not a healthy home make.
So off we ambled to 3R Living in Brooklyn to drop off a jarful of dead batteries for recycling—I’m trying to get the hub to switch to less-wasteful rechargeable ones—as well as pick up a long-coveted bamboo cutting board.
Bamboo, a member of the grass family and darling of the tree-hugging set, is a remarkably sustainable, cost effective, and eco-friendly plant with over 1,200 different species in China. According to manufacturer Totally Bamboo, bamboo grows to a “harvestable height between 3 to 4 years, some species growing up to 2 feet per day. It has an extensive root system that continually sends up new shoots, naturally replenishing itself. It does not require replanting, making it one of the world’s most renewable sources.” With a yield 25 times that of timber, along with a tensile strength rivaling steel’s, bamboo is a viable and environmentally savvy alternative to overharvested hardwood.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration actually recommends preparing food with plastic cutting boards, rather than wooden ones, because plastic is “less porous than wood, making it less likely to harbor bacteria, and easier to clean.” Hey, would the FDA, wielders of the sacred public trust, ever steer us wrong?
Cough.
In 1993, however, microbiologists Dean Cliver and Nese Ak, from the University of Wisconsin’s Food Research Institute, challenged that notion when they intentionally inoculated wooden and plastic boards with organisms such as Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli, which are common causes of food poisoning. Their results: 99.9 percent of the bacteria died within three minutes on the wooden ones, while the bacteria survived on the plastic boards.
From a New York Times article on the findings:
When contaminated boards were left unwashed overnight at room temperature, bacterial counts increased on the plastic, but none of the organisms could be recovered from the wooden boards the next morning. …
The researchers tested boards made from seven different species of trees and four types of plastic and found similar results: wood was safer than plastic, regardless of the materials used. Thus far, however, the researchers have been unable to isolate the agents in wood that make it so inhospitable to bacteria.
If you’d rather put your faith in the FDA, however, steer your peepers toward these vibrantly patterned boards made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.
Patrick D. Bird, a professor at the University of Florida’s College of Health and Human Performance cautions that we shouldn’t assume wooden cutting boards will automatically “decontaminate” themselves without human interference, and that any type of cutting board, regardless of material, should be thoroughly scrubbed with soap and hot water.
~Dawn said,
July 30, 2006 at 12:17 am
I love bamboo. Think one could have a complete bambo house inside and out? Hmmm…
marie aka the FertilityBitch said,
July 30, 2006 at 9:31 pm
I read in some macrobiotic lit that if you cut organic veggies on a wooden board, you need only rinse, not soap. I’ve been doing that for years and–blurk–haven’t gotten sick yet. Loooove the shortcut convenience, natch.
Laurie said,
July 31, 2006 at 10:00 am
Gee, do you think that I shouldn’t let the cat sleep on my cutting board, then?
I think that this has convinced me to switch to bamboo, at least for my veggies. I keep a wooden board just for bread. It doubles as a place to knead it, but I haven’t used it for that much.
Mark Caserta said,
July 31, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Hey- when did you come to the store? I worked on Sunday. I guess I missed you?
The Worsted Witch » Updates & Miscellany said,
August 14, 2006 at 6:25 pm
[…] Bamboo cutting board I am absolutely over-the-moon with our attractive, functional, and sustainable bamboo cutting board. It really makes it much more of a joy to prepare food on. […]
The Worsted Witch » Mail Call: Finding Eco Products said,
February 5, 2007 at 10:31 am
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