Is Your Kitchen Sponge Really Clean?

They say you can clean your kitchen sponge in the dishwasher, the microwave, or with boiling water, but does it really work?

The sponge in your kitchen sees a lot of action and a lot of bacteria. Research done in Germany now shows just how disgusting your sponge is.

Just how gross?

Well, it has more bacteria than your toilet.

A study published on Nature.com from Massimiliano Cardinale, Dominik Kaiser, Tillmann Lueders, Sylvia Schnell, and Markus Egert discovered the amount and types of bacteria that can be found on an average kitchen sponge.

• Campylobacter - Gastrointestinal problems and fever.
• E. Coli - Gastrointestinal, anemia, and kidney failure.
• Enterobacter Cloacae - Range of infections such as: urinary tract, bacteremia, soft tissue, intra-abdominal, lower respiratory, osteomyelitis, etc.
• Klebsiella - Pneumonia
• Proteus - Salmonella, urinary tract infection, staphylococcus.

So what about all of those sanitation methods you've heard about?

Yea, well, they don't work.

Microwaving or boiling your kitchen sponge really only works in a lab. Your sponge sitting by your sink right now isn't going to be disinfected using those methods.

What can you do?

The answer is quite unfortunate and costly. They recommend you replace your kitchen sponge every week.

Looks like you might want to start buying in bulk.

Source: Fox8.com, Nature.com