Today’s New York Times had an interesting article about bacteria and food-borne illness, suggesting that we should all be far more terrified of our own kitchens than of any mad cow. Expecting to find a scathing condemnation of my entire way of life, I was pleasantly surprised to find an endorsement of my own housekeeping habits (or lack thereof)
Chuck Gerba, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona who has studied bacteria in home kitchens, said that he found that people who had the cleanest-looking kitchens were often the dirtiest. Because “clean” people wipe up so much, they often end up spreading bacteria all over the place. The cleanest kitchens, he said, were in the homes of bachelors, who never wiped up and just put their dirty dishes in the sink.
Thank you, Dr. Gerba!! No more pangs of guilt about playing horse instead of cleaning house!!