Can I bleach a plastic chopping board?

Mine are just bog standard boards from the local shops, I just bought them in different colours and sizes. Ikea have good ones.
I have never used an anti-bacterial product, and never seen them used in commercial premises either, Just hot soapy water and a bit of bleach where needed.

The coloured boards are available on Amazon, they come with a colour coded laminated sheet which tells you which board to use. I have just bought them, as I was a bit worried about cross contamination.

I think anti-bacterial boards are a bit of a nonsense and believe there is evidence that their use contributes to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the way over-use of antibiotics has done.

Discolouration isn't harmful. So long as it is clean.

Just wash it with washing up liquid and that magic ingredient - water. Bleach is nasty stuff.

I think (from memory) the plastic
anti - bacteria boards are called Microban.
Cook shops sell the coloured chopping boards ( red for meat etc)
I should think Amazon probably will have them.

My coloured boards came with a set of kitchen scales. The scales have long gone but I'm still using the. Chopping boards.

Meat and fish never cut on my chopping boards. I deal with it on the packaging or paper that it was in, on the draining board. I never cut chicken only cook whole ones. As little handling as possible and I use a little bleach on my draining board and sinks at night. My separate wooden boards are for bread and veggies and scrubbed occasionally. No tummy upsets here, touch wood!

Bleach is not needed if u put it in the dishwasher after each time you use it. Stains are gone!!
Nothing easier?

moonraker I was told not to use a glass chopping board with my expensive knives as it blunts them
(however, I have noticed that they do get blunt anyway, so that could be a myth.)

Felice DD has a set of chopping boards like that, all fit neatly into a container. I have not seen them in the UK.

I always wonder how so much faecal bacteria can be on a work surface.

I try to avoid chopping boards for meat. Instead, I use scissors, cutting instead of slicing/chopping. I then pour boiling water over the scissors, then put them in the dishwasher.

Old thread this might be, but it's interesting!

When I worked in hospital catering many moons ago we had our own butchery department. The butcher used to scrub the wooden butcher's blocks with salt every day when he'd finished working. We never had a food poisoning outbreak..

We did have to replace all our other wooden chopping boards with plastic after a routine public health inspector's check. He never said a word about replacing the butcher's blocks though.

I've always used wooden chopping boards; never poisoned anyone; they get a good scrub with soapy water. Plastic gets very scored (nice crevices for the germs to lurk in). I often wonder if they actually are particularly hygenic. There's no way I'd put my nice supersharp kitchen knives anywhere near a glass board.

I've been putting wooden spoons in the dishwasher for the last 20+ years. Most of them are that old (or older). It doesn't seem to have damaged them. I doubt if the occasional spin in a dishwasher would harm a chopping board, though it might take much longer to dry out.

One of my better buys was a glass chopping board.
Easily washed clean. I use it for all my cutting and
chopping.

Im with Felice. I think wood harbours germs and also easily goes mouldy round edges when stood for drainingbor storage. I prefer plastic or glass. Only use my wooden board for bread. Meat always on glass. Veg on plastic board. Id love a set of those colour coded plastic boards!

There is a wonderful product called Mould and Mildew Remover which I use in lots of areas. It's particularly good between tiles in the bathroom, it cleans brown stains from inside mugs, and it is also brilliant for cleaning plastic chopping boards. I am never without it.

I put the plastic ones in the dishwasher, and hot water and washing up liquid for the wooden ones. most knives go in the dishwasher. IMHO I really think too much too much sanitising is bad for the health as your body never gets a chance to build up resistance to germs. I know commercial kitchens have to abide by health and safety rules and different boards and knives for different things, but I recoil in horror at the thought and think it can't actually be very healthy - physically or mentally, it would drive me to distraction! And I have a cast iron constitution for the most part. Stood me in good stead for my many visits to India - only twice had a mild tummy bug and got very constipated through having to drink bottled water.

I only occasionally used bleach, didn't know about how it breaks down, so thanx for that tip, I want feel so guilty when I do use it. I also put the sachets of dried good bacteria down the loo weekly. So septic tank working fine apart from getting blocked up with loo paper when we had Mrs OCD in the gite recently. She seemed to spend all her time cleaning and even washed the sheets in her own products on the first morning!! I took out 15 unused loo rolls and 7 partly used, no wonder the septic tank blocked up! Bit off thread. Sorry.

Wooden boards are a complete no no in a commercial kitchen, they just cannot be washed by hand in hot enough water to kill all germs.
I have red plastic for meat, yellow for chicken, green for veg, blue for fish, 2 large blue ones for making bread, pasta and pastry.
Plus a couple of large white ones for extra.
They all go in the dishwasher, I soak them in the sink in a solution of bleach very hot water and washing up liquid when I think they need it.
I also have seperate knives for meat and chicken, it is quite dificult to clean knives especially the woden handled ones.

Definitely can! Do mine regularly, no problem.

I have ruined more than one wooden chopping board by someone (?) putting it in the dishwasher. Do not do that!!
A scrub straight after using is perfectly adequate. It is also possible to keep chopping boards for raw meat, chicken etc separate from those you cut bread/veg etc on.
BTW this is a "non- thread" though isn't it? 4 years old and only revived by simranpatel's now deleted advertising post

Yes I think wood is preferable - kinder to your knives and healthier. Providing you dont soak it in water or put it in the dishwasher. I think if you dry thoroughly after giving it a scrub with hot water and soap, and oil it about every three or four weeks it will last a lifetime.

I put them in the dishwasher too, but they do seem to go slightly orange/pink with washing.

I put plastic chopping boards in the dishwasher, but if I have cut up meat - particularly chicken - I bleach them first.

How much do they cost? its probably worth buying a new one if you are worried.

crimson Says that wood is safer than plastic (as it has some antimicrobial action) and I have heard this as well. I didn't look at the date either. That will explain the bags who is now thatbags

I like a drop of bleach myself. I cling to my wooden chopping board- the plastic ones are so cheap they can be renewed often.

I was also wondering why this 2012 thread has been resurrected. Didn't look at the link, may be advertising or just a new poster who didn't notice the date.