The surprising kitchen hazards that are putting your health at risk
IF you’ve recently cleaned out your kitchen, you might have noticed dirt lurking in various nooks and crannies.
Most of the time, a few stray crumbs in the cutlery draw aren’t doing much harm.
But scientists have now revealed the areas of your kitchen that you should be paying more attention to.
Medics in the US found that the main hotspot for nasties was spice jars.
If you’re cooking something from scratch, it’s likely you’ve reached for several jars on the rack, upping your risk of cross contamination.
The study, commissioned by the US Agriculture Department Food Safety and Inspection Service, found that 48 per cent of samples showed evidence of cross contamination.
Researchers said the spice jars were even dirtier than bins, knives and the sink.
Study author, Donald Schaffner, from Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in New Jersey said they had the highest concentrations of marker microorganisms which help identify bacterial species.
He explained that this is because most people wouldn’t think to clean spice jars or wipe them down after use, in the same way that you would clean a chopping board or piece of cutlery.
“If one were to handle a contaminated spice container, and then accidentally put one’s finger in one’s mouth, this might result in ingestion of pathogens and subsequent illness,” Prof Schaffner told The Telegraph.
These illnesses would usually present as food poisoning.
Experts at the UK Food Standards Agency state that anyone can fall poorly with this, but that some people have a higher risk, such as pregnant women, people with a weakened immune system, young children and older people.
However, Prof Schaffner said that it would be hard to figure out how dangerous this would be when it comes to our health.
Writing in the Journal of Food Protection, Prof Schaffner said that once the organism has transferred to the spice jar, it will slowly die over time.
“But it’s certainly possible that you would be able to detect the organism days or in some cases weeks later,” he said.
The 6 symptoms of food poisoning you need to know
Food poisoning is rarely serious and in most cases it gets better within a week.
The NHS states that you can normally treat yourself or your child at home.
Guidance states that common symptoms of food poisoning include:
- feeling sick (nausea)
- diarrhoea
- being sick (vomiting)
- stomach cramps
- a high temperature of 38C or above
- feeling generally unwell – such as feeling tired or having aches and chills
The symptoms usually start within a few days of eating the food that caused the infection.
In order to avoid ingesting any nasties, Prof Schaffner said you should wash your hands with soap and water after touching raw meat.
This is so you’ll avoid transferring any pathogens to the spice rack or other items when cooking, he said.
In order to detect the dirtiest areas of the kitchen, experts recruited 371 people who were all testing new recipes.
The participants were then asked to make a turkey burger from scratch.
Scientists included a harmless tracker bacteria in the meat called MS2, which the participants were not informed of.
Once the cooks left the kitchen, medics sweeped in to swab kitchen surfaces for traces of cross contamination.
Aside from the spice rack, handles, dishcloths, sponges and tap handles all ranked amongst the most contaminated.
The inner sink surface, soap dispensers and fridge lids were all up there for being the dirtiest, they added.
For most services, positivity for pathogens didn’t reach above 20 per cent, the medics found.
While your spice jar could be harbouring pathogens that might cause food poisoning, experts have also warned that cooking hobs could be emitting potentially dangerous gases – even when they are turned off.
According to scientists, gas cookers can put families at risk of several deadly illnesses by emitting the same particles belched out by cars and trucks.
Dr Jonathan Levy, an environmental health professor at Boston University in the US, said the cookers pollute houses with nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
The gas may cause asthma in children and put adults at risk of cancer, Dr Levy explained in an article he wrote in the Conversation.
The pollutant is most commonly found on motorways.
Another study also found that so-called ‘forever chemicals’ are lurking on pots, pans, spoons and other household items.
The chemicals, the experts at the University of Southern California (USC) said, can increase your risk of a common liver cancer known as non-viral hepatocellular carcinoma.
In many cases, a person will be diagnosed with this cancer due to iron overload syndromes, alcohol use, tobacco use and exposure to pesticides.
The study found that those who had exposure to the toxins had a 4.5 fold increased risk of being diagnosed with the illness.
The chemical, perfluooctane sulfate, is known as a ‘forever chemical’ because it takes years to degrade in the environment.