Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Clean and Sanitize your Kitchen

On popular social media sites you may have seen suggestions for using hydrogen peroxide to clean your kitchen.  It is an effective sanitizer but you need to follow these guidelines to effectively sanitize your surfaces such as counters, cutting boards, or dishes.

Lydia Medeiros, Ohio State University Extension and Colorado State University researchers found that hydrogen peroxide (3%) can be used to clean and sanitize your kitchen surface areas.

Before sanitizing the surface with the hydrogen peroxide, you need to clean the surface.

Cleaning steps include:

• Wash surface with soap and warm water.
• Rinse with clean water.

It is important that you follow these suggestions to effectively kill bacteria.

How to Use Hydrogen Peroxide to Sanitize Kitchen Surfaces:

• Use Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) solution undiluted and heated to 130 degrees F or 55 degrees C.
• Leave the peroxide on the counter or surface to be cleaned for one minute before air drying or wiping it with a clean paper towel.  Follow these guidelines and you will kill Listeria Monocytogenes, E-Coli, and Salmonella.

Please note:  If you don’t heat the hydrogen peroxide and leave it on the counter or surface for 10 minutes, E-Coli and Salmonella will be killed.  Listeria will not be killed with this method.

To watch a YouTube video about the process, visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_9IhS2jv2OM#t=0s