Then the dirty dishes can make you sick – “Boil the dishcloth”

Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham, professor of food hygiene, shows one-week-old bacterial cultures that she took on a dishcloth and a dish brush. News morning presenter Sofia Geite smells the cultivation, but recoils and holds her nose:

– Oh, my!

However, the dishcloth itself does not smell bad and thus does not signal that it is time to replace it – but the cultivation speaks for itself.

– If you dry with this dishcloth on a cutting board and then cut bread or salad a few times, you will get all this on the bread or salad. Then you risk getting sick, if you have wiped up dangerous bacteria before, warns Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham in Nyhetsmorgon.

Thick dishcloth worst in class

She thinks you should boil your dishcloth, if it can be boiled, at least once a week. She doesn’t care much for the thick dishcloth that absorbs liquid well.

– It never dries! It soaks up all the nasty grime that you wipe up and then it lies and thrives here inside the dishcloth and multiplies. Eventually it signals that it smells like skunk, but then it’s too late.

It is common in Swedish homes, but it is the worst in the class, says Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham. She wants to strike a blow for thin dishcloths that dry faster. But they don’t absorb liquid – you have to do that with kitchen paper or old sheets, which you can wash and reuse.

You should NOT wipe it with the cloth

It is therefore best to boil dishcloths, but it is also fine to wash them in the washing machine. However, she warns against running them in the dishwasher.

– Water is flushed from the side of the hard goods downwards, so it does not get into the dishcloth. But in a washing machine the drum rolls and then it is kneaded in a different way.

You should not wipe anything that may contain bacteria with your dishcloth, she says. This applies, for example, to raw minced meat, raw chicken, fish or milk – which sours easily.

Even the dish brush should be boiled once a week, says Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham.