A recent blog by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) gives some very helpful information for those looking for ways to keep your appliances and kitchen clean and sanitized. AHAM represents manufacturers of a full spectrum of major, portable and floor care appliances, as well as suppliers to manufacturers in order to provide retailers and consumers with information, trends and more related to the home appliance industry at large.
The folks at AHAM talked with people from the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) to provide information for the blog post. NSF is an international organization that develops public health standards and certifies programs that help protect the world’s food, water, consumer products and environment in order to protect and improve global human health. If you see an NSF logo (pictured below) on your appliance it means the sanitizing cycle on your appliance has met the stringent standards of NSF to ensure proper removal of bacteria, viruses and fungi.
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Here are some key takeaways from the AHAM blog:
- Cleaning and sanitizing are not the same. To be a qualified sanitization appliance, it must remove 99.9% of microorganisms from laundry and 99.999% of microorganisms from dishes.Â
- Common breeding grounds for germs in the kitchen are frequently touched surfaces like the coffee maker, refrigerator handle and knobs on stoves, wall ovens or cooktops
- The kitchen is often more contaminated than the bathroom
- The 10 germiest items in most households are dish sponges/rags, kitchen sink, toothbrush holder, pet bowls, coffee reservoir, bathroom faucet handle, pet toys, kitchen countertops, stove knobs, and cutting boards
- Sponges and dishrags can be sanitized by heating them in the microwave for two minutes while they’re wet
- Bacteria begin to grow after about two hours on soiled dishes left at room temperature
- You can make your own sanitizing solution by adding a tablespoon of unscented bleach to a gallon of water
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