It’s as commonplace as the kitchen: the kitchen hand towel. They’re found draped over oven handles, sprawled out on counters, and folded up somewhere near the sink. Common uses of these towels include drying hands, cleaning up spills, or even using them as potholders. These functions make the kitchen hand towel quite hand-y, but according to recent studies, there’s good reason to re-think how they’re used.
An article featured in Food Protection Trends (Vol. 34, No. 5, p. 312-317) titled “Bacterial Occurrence in Kitchen Hand Towels” features some disturbing information about the microorganisms found in the common kitchen. In order to obtain a fair overview of the bacteria involved in different regions, the study group went door-to-door in five major North American cities asking for used hand towels. In total, 82 kitchen hand towels were collected from Chicago, Tucson, New Orleans, Orlando, and Toronto. Additionally, in the spirit of fairness, the group also collected usage data for each towel such as the age of the towel, how frequently each one was washed, and the number of days since it was last washed.
Two types of bacteria were sought after in the study: coliform and E. coli. In the end, the results showed that coliform bacteria were detected in nearly all of the towels (89%) and E. coli was found in 25.6% of the towels. Coliform bacteria is an umbrella term for different types of bacteria, including E. coli. It serves as an indicator of the sanitary quality of foods and water. E. coli, a widely-known type of bacteria, is a sign of fecal contamination and can often be harmless. However, some strands of E. coli can cause serious damage to humans.
“The highest numbers of bacteria per towel were found in those collected from New Orleans and the lowest in towels collected from Orlando. Tucson had the highest numbers of coliform bacteria in the towels, followed by number of E. coli isolated from towels collected in Orlando,” the report states.
No matter where you live, it’s important to keep kitchen towels clean and safe from harmful bacteria. Think twice before you dry your hands with a kitchen towel and never dry dishes with a used one!
— Jeremy Howard
