Non toxic spring cleaning.
It’s been 21 years since Susan Sumner’s work with non-chlorine disinfecting methods for food science at the Virginia Tech was written up by Judy Stouffer and published by Science News, August 8, 1998.
But for all that, the world seems mostly not to have heard about it.
Here’s a brief recap:
Susan Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, worked out the recipe for a safe, non-toxic sanitizing solution for the kitchen, food surfaces and produce.
. All you need is one spray bottle of three percent hydrogen peroxide, and another of plain white or apple cider vinegar.
That’s it. Two clean spray bottles – one of each liquid.
To clean vegetables or fruit, just spray them all over with first one and then the other, it doesn’t matter what order you go in, and then run them under cold water to rinse.
Side note: the major source of bacteria like e-Coli is fresh produce, not meats, so it’s a great idea to wash your produce this way, because it will kill 99.9% of all bacteria present.
Ms Sumner’s tests also proved that this 2 sprayer combination works as a perfect sanitizing method for all kitchen surfaces that come into contact with food, from cutting boards to counter tops sinks, and utensils. Use the same method of spraying one and then the other, then wipe clean with a clean cloth.
We’ve used this system in our house now for most of the two decades since Ms. Sumner’s science work was published, and it is cheap, fast and easy to do. Best of all, it’s completely harmless to you, your family and the environment. It won’t harm septic systems, surfaces, or utensils, either.
One more tip: in recent years there’s been a lot of talk about dangerous bacteria and mold in sponges and the advice is to throw them out (in part because they never fully dry). Bleach won’t clean them. But no one ever did this study with them, as far as we know.
We soak our sponges in 1/2 bucket of hot water and 3 scoops of sodium percarbonate (dry hydrogen peroxide,*) for 4 hours or overnight, whatever is easiest at the time. Then rinse and spin in the washing machine and they’re good to go again. Eventually they do fall apart, but this gets a longer life out of them. It works exceptionally well with the thin European style sponge cloths, too.
*Dry hydrogen peroxide, or sodium percarbonate is often sold as ‘color safe bleach’ or ‘oxygen cleaner’. You may remember Oxy Clean – but that brand has added other ingredients which are not named on the packaging. All you need is sodium percarbonate.
