Your Cutting Board May Have 200 Times More Fecal Bacteria Than a Toilet Seat
The internet has been all over this — but is it actually true?
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If you’ve been scrolling through food videos in recent years, or spent time reading about kitchen cleanliness on the internet, you might have heard a frequently quoted statistic: “the average cutting board has 200 times more fecal bacteria than a toilet seat.”
It's a shocking statement, so it’s no surprise that it gets a big reaction every time it’s shared. Aesthetic nurse practitioner and content creator Miranda Wilson posted about this revelation last November in an Instagram reel that has now accumulated 20.6 million views to date. But she wasn’t the first to terrify audiences with fears of feces on cutting boards — the information has been shared online at least as far back as 2014, when the Huffington Post covered common sources of bacteria in home kitchens, such as cutting boards and dish towels.
Related: This Is the Germiest Place In Your Kitchen, According to Science
So where does this not-so-fun fact come from, and is it true? I went down a rabbit hole into the internet to find out, in the hopes that I could ultimately keep my cutting board cleaner.
The origin of this bold assertion — that cutting boards typically have 200 times more fecal bacteria than a toilet — has two sources. Dr. Charles Gerba, a professor of virology at the University of Arizona, has regularly cited the statistic in interviews with media outlets including CNN and even us, Food & Wine. However, my digital sleuthing hasn’t revealed any published research from Dr. Gerba or the University of Arizona that resulted in this finding, and instead, he seems to be referencing a survey conducted by the Global Hygiene Council (GHC), an organization that is "made up of leading global experts in hygiene and associated disciplines."
An infographic from the GHC, referenced in the Huffington Post’s 2014 article about bacterial contamination in kitchens, is the only published resource that says cutting boards have 200 times more bacteria than a toilet. Unfortunately the Huffington Post does not link to any research from the GHC that led to this conclusion, the media outlet's hyperlink to the UK’s National Health Service website that allegedly confirms the conclusion no longer works, and sources listed directly on the infographic are illegible.
I attempted to contact the GHC to get access to the foundation of their claim — since this organization seems to be the only primary source of the information — but I received a bounce-back email saying that the GHC’s contact information listed on its website is not valid.
Simply put, it’s unclear if this startling statistic about what might be lingering on our cutting boards is true. Reputable academics, organizations, and media outlets have cited it, but I am unable to find the original study and data that can confirm the exact number of “200 times more bacteria.” It’s also likely that even if true, this fact isn’t as scary as it initially sounds.
All raw meat has bacteria present, and some of this bacteria may come from an animal’s intestinal tract, qualifying it as fecal bacteria. So if cutting boards do have 200 times more fecal bacteria than a toilet seat, that’s not because home cooks are refusing to wash their hands after using the restroom — it’s from cooking raw meat, and not properly cleaning your cutting board afterwards.
Regardless of whether you believe that a toilet seat is cleaner than your cutting board, or even if you don’t cook meat at home, there is plenty of research that confirms a kitchen is one of the places with the most bacteria in your household. Luckily, armed with a few easy tips and pieces of information, you can work to prevent unnecessary contamination.
Why do cutting boards have bacteria?
Either raw meat or fresh fruits and vegetables can transfer bacteria to your cutting board. If you’re washing your cutting board with only warm water, then you’re not effectively getting rid of any pathogens. So if you just slice some fresh produce, you still need to thoroughly clean the surface.
When you chop on a cutting board, the knife may leave behind small grooves, even when they’re not visible to the naked eye. These indentations are what harbor bacteria, and once your board becomes especially worn in, washing with soap and hot water still might not eliminate all of the bacteria inside the many grooves. To prevent this, it’s best to replace your cutting board if it starts looking well-weathered or has lots of clear cuts in it.
What type of cutting board is cleanest?
People have previously claimed that wooden cutting boards are less hygienic than plastic, because wood is a more porous material — on the other hand, wood does have naturally antimicrobial properties, raising the question of which option is better for cooking. A 2015 study from the Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety compared the surfaces, including two different types of wood, ultimately concluding there were “no significant differences in microbiological counts on wooden and plastic cutting boards after proper cleaning.”
There are cutting boards that are much more difficult to scratch, like glass, stone, and bamboo. But the reason they’re more durable is because they’re so hard, and this same property will quickly dull your knives. Glass in particular is dangerous, because the surface is so smooth it can make a knife slip. Your best bet is to go with either plastic or wood, ensure you clean the cutting board properly, and replace ones that are worn out.
How should you clean a cutting board?
I have some great news for you, which is that you don’t need any specialty cleaning items or extended processes to clean a cutting board! Instead, simply wash the board with a sponge, warm or hot water, and an antimicrobial dish soap, the same way that you’d scour any other dirty dish. Make sure you wash both sides and the edges of the board, and use soap even if you’ve only cut raw vegetables or sliced bread.
Another easy way to prevent cross contamination is to keep two separate cutting boards for raw meat and everything else. This way, if pathogenic bacteria are somehow still present on the board used to prepare meat, anything that touches it will ultimately be heated up to the necessary temperature to kill dangerous contaminants.
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