Get Your Dirty Hands Out Of My Kitchen Sink

One cardinal sin in a professional kitchen is to wash your hands in the same sink where you wash dishes or prepare food. Why? It’s unsanitary. Hands carry lots of germs. That’s why professional kitchens have separate sinks dedicated to hand-washing.

Well, that rule shouldn’t fade in home kitchens. My home kitchen is where I prepare food and wash dishes for my family, which includes two kids under two years of age. In my home, we have bathrooms and powder rooms, with separate sinks and hand soap, so you don’t have to wash your hands in the kitchen sink.

Please be sanitary. Don’t wash your hands in the kitchen sink.

This post was motivated by a surge in violations in my own home amidst all the kind visitors for Baby Celeste.

Tagged as: food, hands, kitchen, life, sanitary, sink, wash

commercial kitchenware

Nice post.. Simple but informative article.. Hope I can read another like this..

cuartman

I think if your hands are clean when you enter the food prep area, then to keep your hands clean while handling different types of food it would be ok to wash your hands in the same sink where you wash dishes or prepare food.

Also, copper sinks do have the benefit of killing even E.Coli in about 1 hour. I like having this property of copper on my side with my copper kitchen sink.

darrell

As I write this comment, I am recovering from 3 days of sickness from germs in my food. I went to the mall and ordered a fruit smoothy from Orange Juleus. After eating it, i became immediately ill with headache, nausia, upset stomach.

Please excuse my misery, but PEOPLE PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS, people really get painfully sick and suffer for days because you don't think its important to clean the germs off your hands and food preparation utensils.

Mel

Wow. Is that all you have to worry about? Stop complaining and count your blessings. Your kids need to build up immunity to bacteria which they won't do if you keep them in an sterile enviroment. Lighten up. Life is short...

maxkalehoff

Thanks Mel. I do count my blessings. But I also used to work in a
restaurant and am aware of the feces that travel on hands. Agree with
you on benefits of germ exposure, but I prefer to keep them away from
my food!

Jessica

I am so glad to hear someone else is willing to fight the "norm" of hand washing in the kitchen sink. I was brought up with this as the standard, and not until I was a teen did I even see anyone wash their hands in the kitchen sink, and when I did I was so grossed out. No wonder they find feces on kitchen sinks!!! I cannot understand why people assume that the health department standards of not washing hands in the food prep or dish washing sink is wrong. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for doing what you know is right, and respecting your home and your rules.

Chris

If you have to though, check out copper sinks. Not only do they work great for washing dishes, copper itself is an antimicrobial surface that is naturally self-renewing. Few metals have these properties of being both germ free and able to naturally repair themselves.

KarenSwim

Max, totally agree with you here! I wash dishes by hand frequently (eco friendly) and wash my hands in the bathroom before washing dishes. It should be noted that I don't get sick during flu season either. You can transfer all kinds of bacteria to your food, you're not being anal, just smart.

maxkalehoff

Thanks for backing me up, Karen. See, Laura and Claire? I'm not crazy!

maxkalehoff

Why should I chill out? People even ask me if I can stop cooking sometimes, and step aside, so they can wash their hands in my sink. That's not cool. Kitchen sinks are for food and dishes.

laura

you need to chill out

Claire

Wow, do people have to take off their shoes and put on those little surgical slippers too? Mellow out, man. :~)

Get Your Dirty Hands Out Of My Kitchen Sink

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