What is the best (healthy)cutting board to use? Glass, Plastic or Wood?

Answer 1

glass is cleanest, plastic is not good as your bound to get splinters of it in the food, even very small you just don't want to eat that, wood offers the best cutting surface for handling purposes, but as the others point out, harder to clean. On a side note, wooden spoons are also dirty, plastic is terrible too as you don't know what carcenogens are released when plastic is heated, so metal cooking spoons are a must too.

Answer 2

Cutting boards are all pretty healthy so long as they are cleaned and dried after each use.

Professional kitchens actually use several different cutting boards.. one for fish, one for poultry, one for red meat, one for cooked meats, one for dairy, one for bread and vegetables.

Rarely, bacteria in a cutting board may be able to transfer to the food, not be killed in cooking, and multiply enough to cause sickness in humans.

Glass is best at preventing this, as it has no pores, and is hard to scratch, so bacteria have few places to hide. Honestly, a thick piece of flat sheet glass is best. However, all glass will dull your knives enormously fast.

There is some controversy as to whether wood or plastic is safer. Generally plastic is considered safer, because it is non-porous. However, both wood and plastic get scratched easily, so that food waste and bacteria can build up in the scratches.

Plastic can contain bubbles, and may be impregnated with antibacterial chemicals. These chemicals are wildy popular, but largely unproven, and less effective than bleach. Moreover, bacteria may develop resistance to them, making them harder to treat if you do get sick. These chemicals have also been implicated in deformations among fish, and other animals. Also, since plastic is non-porous, the holes and crevices tend to remain wet for longer, especially if several cutting boards are stacked together.

Wood contains natural pores where some bacteria may live. However few bacteria are able to infect wood, as it contains natural tannins which have reliably discouraged bacteria for millenia. Those that can infect wood are of little concern to humans. Also, since wood is porous, and is intended to transport water in one direction, it tends to wick water out of the board, which reduces the amount of water available for bacteria to grow.

Answer 3

Plastic. They are low priced so you can buy one for cutting raw meat and one for everything else. They can be cleaned with disinfecting soaps unlike wood cutting boards, and they will not harm your knives like glass would. Much safer around children than glass also.

Answer 4

Contrary to popular belief, wood is better.

Research has shown that wooden cutting boards possess a natural antibacterial effect, in that although bacteria would lodge between the knife cuts, they die out. Plastic on the other hand, has a higher risk of bacterial contamination although they are conveniently cleaned; the sponge we use to clean it contain bacteria which offsets it, and knive cuts accummulate bacteria and it multiplies in there instead of dying out like for wooden boards, and is almost impossible to eradicate. To disinfect your wooden board, just put it in the microwave.

Answer 5

We have a wood, and it sucks. Always gets warped from the water, can only clean it one way.

I'd rather have the plastic, seems easier. Even glass.

But not wood, too much maintence.

Answer 6

How did you know that I am in the process of buying one? Anyway.. I have a wooden one and I know that it is not a HEALTHY one t use.. I have had to scrub it quite often and then pour clorox over it in order to keep it sanitary.. Plastic is NOT good either but... there is a type of GLASS one that WILL NOT HARM THE CUTTING EDGE OF A KNIFE.. That is important .. and that is the one I am going to buy this week.. I am going to get mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond but I am sure that others have it also... GET THE TYKPE of glass that WILL NOT harm the cutting edge of your knife...

Answer 7

Wood is the best it actually inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi where as glass and plastic even with good cleaning will quickly grow allsorts of nasty stuff

Answer 8

Of course glass would be the most sanitary because it is nonporous. Just like plastic is. I prefer wood it is safe as long as you follow safe cleaning procedures.

Answer 9

A good quality of platic or glass NO WOOD.

Answer 10

think along the lines of porous material, wood will allow smells and liquid to get into it and making it unsafe, use glass, or granite sink cut out is good.......

lic. gen. contractor