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Most bacteria are harmless or beneficial so what's the point of killing such a high percentage of them?

I'm very careful about food hygiene and we have no problems associated with lack of careful food hygiene. I manage this with hot water and washing-up liquid or soap and an occasional slosh of bleach on a white chopping board, not to kill germs, but to remove carrot juice stains.

Likewise with other areas of the house that need to be hygienic. NB hygienic does not mean almost sterile.

Encouraging people to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses is not a good thing to do in my opinion. I'd go further and say I think it's actually a bad idea and you shouldn't be pushing it.

PS emmagransnet, I thought we'd already had this thread. I ignored it first time round. See above for reason why.

Thank you, emmagransnet. Told you I didn't take much notice of the other one!

Have Dettol sales plunged, I wonder?

I agree with bags that soap and hot water are all we need for home hygeine. I am sensitive to a lot of chemical substances so the more natural the better.

Too much time and wasted money goes on cleaning products, the latter can cause health issues to some people. I cant use the sprays. The only thing I use are antibacterial wipes.

Hot water and soap is all that is required. If you use bacterial wipes and liquid, you are killing off the friendly bacteria and also encouraging bacterial resistance. Whatever happened to elbow grease? That is what I apply with hot water and soap if I have a problem- I never ever use antibacterial anything for the reasons described.

Don't forget to wipe down buttons and switches. I think we all do the counters etc but might forget the light switches, the washing machine buttons, the kitchen door handles etc.

Just regular hand washing, wiping down work surfaces after use. I don't put raw meat on work surfaces (or shoes, cats, or dogs which would seem obvious but!) Works fine for us.

Re food hygiene. I do organise my fridge so that dairy is in the top shelf and raw meat in the bottom (which is a meat drawer anyway) to prevent x-contamination. Other ingredients are on the other two shelves.

Re chopping boards, I'm very fussy especially if preparing raw chicken. I don't use that particular board for any other food .and I'll use spray bleach or Dettol on it before giving it a thorough wash.

If any of the animals have been sick then I always find finish off the clean up with that nice smelling Dettol in the purple bottle.

I always organise my fridge so that raw meat is on the bottom too. I have several different chopping boards for different foods. I give them a thorough wash after use and give them a coing over with bleach. I am fussy about washing my hands frequently and cleaning switches, door handles etc.

I agree with Anya and KatyK about raw meat and especially chicken. I never leave a chopping board or knives that have been in contact with it lying around. They go straight into the bowl of hot water with detergent in it, and the worktop wiped down with a hot, detergent-y cloth.

I don't set much store by use-by dates, preferring to rely on the time-honoured methods of visual inspection and smell.
The inside of the fridge is regularly inspected and any decaying vegetable matter transferred to the compost heap and the salad drawer wiped out with a solution of bicarbonate of soda.

I'm like Alan Bennett's mum and have several cloths for different uses, eg the floor cloth must never be used on the work-top and vice versa.

why on earth are you swabbing down light switches etc when preparing food ? I never use any of those wipes or sprays , good old hot water and soap is all that's needed , if you wash your hands before and after food prep , there is no need to go round the switches and handles , just do them when you are doing the kitchen cleaning

It sounds to me as if Dettol has taken over Gransnet. I wonder how much GN is being paid to host these particular adverts. That information would of course be company confidential.

OMG I have just had a thought. Does dettol now want everyone to spray their chickens and turkeys with dettol anti bacterial sprays.
Should we all spray our light switches.

Is Dettol targeting mumsnet with the same pressure we are being targeted, I reckon the younger generations are more enticed by all the cleaning sprays than ours were.

I used to teach food hygiene for food workers but apart from refrigerating rice quickly the thing that underlies everything else is building that kind of common sense awareness of what you're doing in the kitchen. It doesnt need to be technical, just what did I last touch, where am I putting that, how long has it been sitting out etc

Soap and very warm water works a treat for most cleaning chores.

The one basic I always have is no matter what I fo in the kitchen I run a bowl of hot soapy water so that hands can be washed constantly and without toiching the taps with dirty hands

I used to work as assistant. Cook in an
older residents home. We were. CHecked for food hygiene several times per year I do organise my fridge raw meat on the bottom etc. I never leave any food out or in the oven etc even if it is wrapped, it is wrapped and put into the fridge. BLeach and disinfectants were banned in the kitchen, but I always had a clean bowl of hot soapy water ready in the sink and changed several times over a three hour or so period.

Do keep this in mind.

"Sepsis is a life threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. Sepsis leads to shock, multiple organ failure and death especially if not recognized early and treated promptly.
Sepsis can be caused by a huge variety of different bugs, most cases being caused by common bacteria which we all come into contact with every day without them making us ill. Sometimes, though, the body responds abnormally to these infections, and causes sepsis."

Every year in the UK there are 150,000 cases of Sepsis, resulting in a staggering 44,000 deaths – more than bowel, breast and prostate cancer combined.

just saying!

Some people feel that soap and water is enough to get rid of bacteria.

For bacteria to actually die, the hot water would have to be at a temperature above what your skin could tolerate. Yes, soap and water can wash away bacteria, but it's unlikely to kill them. Some will remain on the surface washed, and as its likely to still be damp this is an ideal medium for the bacteria to thrive and reproduce - exponentially!

And before anyone comments 'it's always fine for me' then I'd say, it wasn't fine for the 44,000 people who die each year. So if some of us prefer to take an antiseptic wipe to door handles, toilets, work surfaces, then I hope I've explained our thinking.

I buy (plastic)chopping boards in different colours i.e. red for raw meat, brown for cooked, green for veg. and white for bread.

I'm always very particular about disinfecting tap handles, it's an area that can sometimes be forgotten.

I make sure door handles (loo and kitchen) get a good clean and when I am out, I try to avoid making contact with handles, banisters etc

just basic common sense in our house. Meat at bottom of fridge etc. Wash hands before and after handling food and keep surfaces clean.