Even though we try our hardest with all the latest cleaning products, kitchen bacteria still hide in unexpected places. Interesting new insight from premium oven cleaning specialist Ovenu, indicates that over 40% of all cases of food poisoning happens at home. With 20,000 hospital visits and a startling 500 deaths per year caused by a lack of kitchen hygiene, here’s some hints and tips to help you avoid nasty food poisoning in the home and office:

• Wash your hands regularly throughout the day
• Use anti-bacterial wipes to clean your keyboard and phone
• Do a weekly deep clean of the office fridge, binning food that’s going off
• Clean the surfaces of your kitchen with disinfectants before and after food prep
• Wash or replace towels, wipes and sponges regularly

Change the kitchen sponge

We’re told good home cooking is the healthiest option, but we may be better-off prepping the veg on the toilet seat, as chopping boards are 200% more contaminated than the average loo. Not replacing kitchen sponges regularly can lead to contamination including E.Coli and Salmonella.

Workplace worry

We all love an office cuppa, but research by microbiologist Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona shows that nine out of ten office mugs carry dangerous germs, and in one-fifth of cases these include faecal bacteria. That’s right – bacteria that come from your co-workers’ poo.

Considering 50% of office workers don’t wash their hands after using the toilet, it’s easy to see where these faecal coliform (which is their official name) come from. And it’s not just the kitchen we need to be wary of at work, our computers and phones carry up to 10 million bacteria.

Rik Hellewell Founder and Managing Director of Ovenu says “It’s no surprise that dirt and grime build up quickly in the kitchens. Although we can’t always control conditions in the office, we can easily take steps at home to combat harmful toxins to protect our families.

Hellewell continues, “For example, the high temperatures in everyone’s ovens can bake food spillages onto the surface, making it incredibly difficult to remove and bacteria to remain. So it is essential to ensure that kitchen appliances are thoroughly cleaned to pre-empt any such issues.”

How clean is too clean?

But before you reach for the antibacterial spray, being too clean can have an adverse effect on our health. Triclosan found in hand soaps and detergents can cause resistance to antibiotics and even allergic reaction. So it’s good idea to look to natural cleaning products where possible. Take a look at Ovenu’s visual research on The Hidden, and Very Dirty, Truth about Kitchens.