What Is The Worst Place For Germs In The Kitchen?

The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home. After all, it’s here that most people prepare their meals for the day. Given that it serves this purpose, though, it’s essential that you try to keep it as clean as possible. Otherwise, who knows what germs you could be putting into your food day after day?

As it’s not always easy to tell when something is dirty, it’s important that you give the room a once-over pretty regularly. According to new research, there’s one area, in particular, that you should pay attention to when doing such a clean. Apparently, it’s one of the worst places for germs in the kitchen. You may not have realized how dirty this place can get before now, but it could be hard to forget moving forward.

Hundreds of people were asked to make a turkey burger for science

Some spots in the kitchen are pretty well-known for attracting germs. Places like countertops, refrigerator handles, and trash can lids see a lot of activity day after day, so it’s maybe no surprise they need to be cleaned regularly. However, a recent study found that these might not be the areas you need to worry about the most. According to the Journal of Food Protection, hundreds of participants were asked to prepare a turkey burger using a raw patty and some pre-packaged lettuce. The burgers reportedly contained bacteriophage MS2, a harmless organism that can easily be transferred like many other germs. The purpose of this was to see where that organism ended up after each participant completed the task. That way, researchers could identify which spots in the kitchen tend to be dirtiest.

Spice racks apparently had the highest concentration of bacteriophage MS2

Aside from giving an insight into people’s cleanliness when preparing food, this study revealed a surprising fact about which part of the kitchen hosts the most germs. Apparently, the highest concentration of bacteriophage MS2 was discovered on spice containers, with this spot amassing 48%. That’s more than cutting boards and trash can lids, which apparently came second and third, respectively. That result may be quite surprising, although it makes sense when you think about it. After all, people who use herbs and spices when cooking are going to be handling these products a lot. If they don’t bother to wash their hands thoroughly before picking these containers up, they’re inevitably going to get covered in germs. Unfortunately, as people don’t always make this connection, spice racks probably don’t get cleaned as much as they should.

Plenty of cooks will probably look at their spice racks a bit differently from now on. You don’t suddenly need to be afraid of this part of your kitchen, though. As long as you wash your hands properly after handling raw food and touching dirty surfaces, your spice rack shouldn’t be that gross.