Wood or plastic? Choosing and cleaning a cutting board

A cutting board is the surface every ingredient in the kitchen touches. That makes it the easiest place for bacteria from raw chicken to end up on tomorrow's salad, and the easiest place to stop that happening. The good news is that keeping a board safe takes little more than soap, water and a second board.

Wood, plastic, bamboo or glass

The US Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hotline settles the old argument plainly: consumers may choose either wood or a nonporous surface such as plastic, marble, glass or pyroceramic, and nonporous surfaces are easier to clean than wood¹.

How they compare in daily use:

The USDA describes bamboo as harder and less porous than hardwoods, absorbing very little moisture and resisting scarring from knives, which makes it more resistant to bacteria than other woods¹. That hardness is also why it dulls knives faster than maple or walnut.

For most kitchens, a good wooden board for vegetables and bread plus one or two plastic boards for raw meat and fish is a practical combination.

Keep raw meat on its own board

The single most useful habit is separation. The USDA suggests using one board for fresh produce and bread and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood, so that bacteria from raw meat are not transferred to food that will not be cooked¹.

Colour-coded plastic boards make this easy: red for raw meat, blue for fish, green for vegetables, or whatever system everyone in the house can remember. A dishwasher-safe plastic board is the natural choice for raw meat because it can be washed hot and replaced cheaply.

The UK Food Standards Agency's advice for the rest of the kitchen follows the same logic: clean surfaces, chopping boards, utensils, plates and hands thoroughly with warm soapy water after they have touched raw or thawing meat², and store raw meat, poultry and fish in sealed containers on the bottom shelf of the fridge, where they cannot drip onto other food².

How to wash a board

After every use, the USDA recommends washing boards with hot, soapy water, rinsing with clear water and leaving them to air dry or patting them dry with clean paper towels¹.

A few practical points:

• Scrape first. Push scraps into the bin or compost with the back of a knife (not the edge, which blunts it) or a bench scraper.
• Wash both sides and the edges, where juices run.
• Stand boards upright to dry so air reaches both faces. A wooden board left flat and wet can warp.
• Never soak a wooden board. Long soaking swells the wood and opens up cracks.

On dishwashers, the USDA says nonporous acrylic, plastic and glass boards and solid wood boards can go in, but laminated boards may crack and split¹. If you love a particular wooden board, hand washing will keep it in better condition.

Sanitising, when and how

Washing is the everyday job. Sanitising is an extra step that is worth doing now and then, and especially after raw poultry. The USDA's method for both wooden and plastic boards is a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach per US gallon of water (about 15 ml in 3.8 litres). Flood the surface, leave it to stand for several minutes, rinse with clear water and air dry or pat dry with clean paper towels¹.

Do this in a ventilated space, never mix bleach with other cleaners, and keep the solution away from children. Throw away any leftover solution rather than storing it.

Caring for wooden and bamboo boards

Wood lasts longest when it does not dry out. The USDA suggests rubbing bamboo boards with mineral oil to help them retain moisture¹, and the same treatment suits hardwood boards. Use food-grade mineral oil or a board conditioner, apply a thin coat to a clean, dry board, leave it overnight and wipe off the excess. Once a month is plenty for a board in daily use; more often if it starts to look pale and dry.

Avoid vegetable oils such as olive or sunflower for this job: they can turn sticky and smell stale over time.

A damp cloth or a silicone mat under any board stops it sliding while you cut, which is the single biggest safety improvement you can make at the counter.

When to replace a board

Every board has a lifespan. The USDA's guidance is that plastic and wooden boards both wear out over time, and once they become excessively worn or develop hard-to-clean grooves, they should be discarded¹.

Signs it is time:

• deep knife scores you cannot clean properly;
• cracks, splits or a warped surface that rocks;
• a plastic board that stays stained or smelly after washing;
• a wooden board that has started to fur or crack along the glue lines.

A worn board is also bad for knives and fingers, because a blade can catch in the grooves.

The short version

Choose wood, plastic or bamboo for the way you cook; avoid glass and stone if you care about your knives. Keep one board for raw meat and another for everything else, wash both with hot soapy water after every use, sanitise occasionally, oil the wooden ones, and replace any board that is badly scored. It is a small routine that protects every meal that passes across it.