When cleaning on a household level, there is little reason to go beyond the sanitation offered by substances such vinegar, borax, and good old soap. All of the cleaning solution mixes offered on this site will perform adequately for household sanitations needs EXCEPT when it comes to the kitchen. The kitchen is the one area of our household that requires extra diligence in sanitation. That said, however, there is still absolutely no reason to use any store-bought, highly toxic disinfectants.
Here's what you need for disinfecting your kitchen surfaces, such as cutting boards and counter tops, as well as food items such as salad greens and apples:
A spray bottle with vinegar
A spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide
Spray first one, then the other, in any order: you've just effectively killed all salmonella, shigella, and e. coli bacteria (in addition to many other bacteria, I’d imagine) on that surface! All without adding any notable levels of toxicity or cost to your household.
I found this information on two sites: Science News Online (update 3/11/09: this link has since been killed, sorry), and Tau Topics.
Please note that it is highly important that you DO NOT MIX the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together in one container. That mixture would be toxic, and it would furthermore fail to provide adequate disinfecting properties.
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2 comments:
If mixing the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together produces a toxic mixture; is it not the same if I spray one, then the other? Or should I spray, rinse and wipe down one before applying the other?
It's certainly counterintuitive, but no, spraying first one and then the other is not the same as mixing it together in one bottle. According to the study (follow link in original post), in fact not only is it (slightly) toxic to mix these two ingredients together, but furthermore less effective in sanitizing than spraying one then the other.
I don't understand the chemistry anymore than you do, but it has something to do with the fact that the properties of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide change when mixed together.
Spraying one followed by the other will not create any toxicity, so it is not necessary to wipe anything down in between--nor after, for that matter. Go ahead and chop into your apple without worry.
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