Kitchen Sponges, Cloths and Brushes

Which is the most hygienic for cleaning your kitchen?

Most of us will be familiar with the cheap packs of coloured kitchen sponges with the abrasive tops, used for washing dishes and wiping surfaces. But could they be harbouring a host of bacterial baddies?

Listener Caroline wants to know as she uses them regularly and even goes as far as running them through the washing machine to keep them cleaner for longer! Does that really work? And are there concerns about these sponges releasing microplastics? Would alternatives like cloths or brushes be a better option?

To answer all of these questions, presenter Greg Foot is joined by Markus Egert, Professor of Microbiology and Hygiene at Furtwangen University in southwest Germany and one of the authors of a major study into the hygiene of sponges; and Vilde Snekkevik, research scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research in Oslo.

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RESEARCHER: JULIA RAVEY PRODUCERS: SIMON HOBAN AND GREG FOOT