I obviously get excited about the weirdest things now! But check this out:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two minutes in the microwave can sterilize most household sponges, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
A team of engineering researchers at the University of Florida found that two minutes of microwaving on full power mode killed or inactivated more than 99 percent of bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as spores, on a kitchen sponge.
"People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave," said Gabriel Bitton, a professor of environmental engineering who led the study.
"To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet," Bitton's team wrote in an advisory.
"Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot."
4 comments:
Yes, they certainly are hot when you get them out of the microwave. I tried this one time and didn't think of that last part. Hot, hot, hot!!!
~Kim
What a great tip! Thanks for sharing.
Okay, this is one of my big hang-ups.. dirty sponges. I watched a show once that showed all of the yuck that collects in a sponge and that was it. It is my non-thrify area in life and I don't mind. We throw away sponges every couple of days. It just grosses me out too much.
This might work for us though...if we had a microwave. LOL! Another Zandi quirk, no microwave.
Last night they did an article on the news about hwo people were trying this and did it wrong, ending up with fires in the microwave.
LOL!
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