Does the material in a cutting board affect the food?

Answer 1

Not really, just please dont buy glass (it hurts my teeth - like fingernails on a chalk board) and take care of it.

Sanitation and care
Sanitation with cutting boards is delicate, because bacteria can reside in grooves produced by cutting, or in liquids left on the board. For this reason, it is often advised to cut raw meat on separate cutting boards from cooked meat, vegetables or other foods.
A very dilute Bleach solution is best for disinfecting cutting boards.
Wood boards should never be placed in the dishwasher, or left immersed for long periods, as the wood or glue may be affected. A light food grade Mineral oil is a good preservative for wooden cutting boards as it helps keep water from seeping into the grain. Alternatively, one may also use a food grade drying oil such as poppyseed oil, tung oil or linseed oil. The first two dry much faster than linseed. Note that most commercially available linseed and tung oil are not “food grade” as they contain metallic driers. In general, edible savory vegetable or olive oils are not recommended because they tend to go rancid, causing the board to smell and your food to pick up the rancid taste.

When heavily or deeply scored, wood or plastic cutting boards should be resurfaced as scoring can harbor excessive bacteria, or mildew in the case of plastic boards. Wood can be easily resurfaced with various woodworking tools, such as scrapers or planes. Sandpaper is to be avoided however, as it leaves residual abrasives in the surface, which will dull knives. Resurfacing a plastic cutting board is more difficult and it is recommended to just go out and buy another one.

Materials
In choosing your cutting surface, there are pros and cons to each depending on your application.

Wood
Wood has some advantages over plastic in that it is somewhat self healing; shallow cuts in the wood will close up on their own. Wood also has an advantage over other materials because in general, it has a natural anti-septic property.[citation needed] Hardwoods, which have tightly grained wood with small pores, are best. Good hardness and tight grain helps reduce scoring of the cutting surface and seepage of liquid and dirt into the surface. Red Oak for example, has large pores so it retains dirt, even after washing, making it a poor choice for cutting board material.

Care must be taken when selecting tropical hardwoods for use as cutting boards as many contain toxins or allergens.

Although technically a grass, laminated strips of Bamboo also make an attractive and durable cutting board material .


Plastic
While theoretically more sanitary than wooden cutting boards, testing has shown this is usually not the case. Tests have shown that the weaker surface of plastic boards is easily damaged by knives. The resulting grooves and cuts in the surface harbour large amounts of bacteria even after being well washed. Semi-disposable thin flexible cutting boards take little skill to transfer their contents to container. Plastic boards allow a complete rinsing of cleaning chemicals such as bleach and other disinfectants.

Glass
Their main selling points are being easier to keep clean and the ability to be placed with each use within a diswasher leaving them close to sterile, and never wearing out. While easier to clean than wood or plastic, glass cutting boards damage knives. Because they have a textured slip resistant surface, and are much harder than the steel of even the highest quality knife, they dull the edge of a knife more quickly. This is less of a concern with cooks who choose to sharpen their knives with each use.

Answer 2

Whoa whoa... Ok lets get something straight here, cutting boards can harbor bacteria no matter what kind they are. Wooden ones while being excellent cutting boards, do retain bacteria if damaged. With proper care a wooden cutting board is one of the best boards to own. They clean easily (soap and water scrub hard) and if you get too worried about bacteria and germs, you can sand down one of the layers of the board to add some life to it. The only problem comes when you have cracks in the board, and poor maintainence.

Glass boards, marble, and any of these other fancy boards, should be avoided at all costs. They simply dull your knives, and increase the chance of you hurting yourself. Sharp knives rarely cut a cook, dull knives will leave the nastiest cuts and scars. They are relativly easy to clean, but if left unmaintained you will be having problems other than bacteria.

Plastic boards are great. They are cheap, and do not dull your knives, but they too harbor bacteria, and when the time comes will need to be sanded down or replaced to remove the cut marks that hold in bacteria.

Look into a bamboo cutting board, they are fairly cheap, and strong with a nice look to them. A little proper care and you should have no problem!

Answer 3

The material that the chopping board is made from won't affect the tase of the food. However, boards that are porous, like wood, will hold bacteria, which can be transferred onto the food you are preparing. Campomile is a type of wood with natural antibacterial properties, so it is safe to use. Glass and marble will blunt your knife, the specially designed plastic boards are best for your knife, and if cleaned correctly they do not breed bacteria.

Answer 4

Nicx Alv,
I always put my cutting board in the dishwasher after use. I scrub it first with plenty of soap and water. From the sound of your question it sounds like you are referring to the particles of the cutting board itself. I don't think there is enough of any thing to worry about. In use, the cutting board is being used in a cutting fashion not a scrapping action, so the amount of particles would be very small.
TDCWH

Answer 5

Yes, bacteria grows in the cuts on a wooden board unless you clean it everyday with salt. Try using a glass one.

Answer 6

It can. Many cutting boards trap germs in them as you cut things. Those germs can be transferred to other foods, and can't be removed with soap and water. It's recommended that you microwave your cutting board after each use to solve this problem.

Answer 7

yes the material is affect with the food

Answer 8

some cutting boards are so discusting because all the germs and bacteria gets caught up in them (like wooden ones and some plastic ones) use a glass one or a plastic one that does not damage when you cut it