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What chemical product should I use to disinfect surfaces that may get in contact with the food? (wooden table where I knead bread/pasta and etc)

With this COVID-19 frenzy it's impossible to find alcohol (what I usually use for cleaning) so my wife bough a bunch of Clorox desinfecting wipes. I was wondering if it's safe to use it

myklbykl
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Croves
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    Are you wanting to clean to avoid COVID-19 specifically, or are you asking about general cleaning using an alternative to your normal product due to shortages? It seems answers are making different assumptions. (I'm guessing you want the latter, but no harm in clarifying it.) – Kat Mar 24 '20 at 02:29
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    Note that bleach is _not_ a cleaner, it’s a disinfectant. If you want to clean things, you need a soap. – Rob Mar 25 '20 at 00:46
  • Thank you all for the contributions. I'm looking for a safe way to manipulate food in these surfaces. So before I dump my dough into my table to kead it, how should I clean it? Water and soap are enough, or it's a good idea to use alcohol or bleach after that. – Croves Mar 25 '20 at 16:25
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    Croves — you should clean first (with a soap or detergent) and then disinfect, especially if there was raw meat involved or if you're concerned about contamination from a virus. If you're just cleaning a cutting board after chopping carrots, cleaning is probably enough. – myklbykl Mar 25 '20 at 16:28
  • Does this answer your question? [Does soap kill germs?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/30093/does-soap-kill-germs) – Erica Mar 26 '20 at 11:41

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This is honestly a HUGE topic, with literally reams of government guidelines on what's effective for surface disinfection. For example:

So partly this depends on how sanitized you want things to be. For my part, I just clean my counters with a mixture of Simple Green (a concentrated organic soap) and water. If you're really concerned, you could do a second washing with a weak bleach solution (wear gloves!).

FuzzyChef
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    I just did some research on Simple Green and it doesn't disinfect. https://simplegreen.com/news-and-media/coronavirus-faq/. Just want to have that here to make sure that readers have all the info. – milesmeow Apr 26 '20 at 05:11
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To disinfect use 1/3 cup bleach per gallon of water.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/cleaning-disinfection.html

To clean, use a detergent or soap. You should clean first, then disinfect.

myklbykl
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  • Bleach is not a cleaner! It's a disinfectant only. – Rob Mar 25 '20 at 00:48
  • Rob — since the OP was looking for a replacement for alcohol, I believe they are looking for a disinfectant, and my answer is correct. – myklbykl Mar 25 '20 at 03:25
  • Read the title, "How to properly clean surfaces". Alcohol is not a cleaner, either. – Rob Mar 25 '20 at 11:17
  • If you read the actual content of the question he was looking for an alternative to alcohol. If you're worried about semantics you could simply correct the title of the question as I just did. He is clearly worried about killing a virus as he specifically mentions COVID-19 and alcohol. – myklbykl Mar 25 '20 at 16:08
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Like most viruses it's easily damaged, soapy water is enough. It has a protective lipid layer so anything that damages that helps. Alcohols and anything alkaline are your best bet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9qDKcUaPUo

goboating
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  • The downside of soapy water is the mess. The chances of having water in the floor is big, that's why I'm a big fan of a damp towel and alcohol – Croves Mar 23 '20 at 20:58
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    a hot soapy water bucket with a damp towel should not make a mess. – Max Mar 23 '20 at 22:58
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    There are these amazing new tools called "sponges". – FuzzyChef Mar 23 '20 at 23:45
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    @FuzzyChef That are liable to become breeding grounds for germs in their own right. – nick012000 Mar 24 '20 at 04:20
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    @nick012000 - just the same as anything else.. cloths or towels, if you don't clean them. Sponges aren't magically more dirty than any other medium. – Tetsujin Mar 24 '20 at 10:55
  • @Tetsujin I’d be interested in any sources you had about that. My gut feeling is that because it is hard to get the interior of a sponge rinsed and dried, that they are more difficult to keep sanitised than a cloth. – Spagirl Mar 24 '20 at 11:08
  • @Spagirl - rather than a true scientific test in ideal conditions, just try smelling your dish-cloth & sponge after a week… which would you rather use again? My sponges get put back in the drainer after being rinsed, soaped & squeezed. Most people's dish-cloths don't, they just get put back in the drainer. – Tetsujin Mar 24 '20 at 11:19
  • I wouldn’t keep anything I was using to clean a food prep area for a week between washes. I don’t use sponges any more, but folk at in the office’s shared kitchen do and they regularly leave it sodden in the sink. – Spagirl Mar 24 '20 at 12:03
  • My sponges do not smell. Heat and chlorine can sterilize it and the combination of washing, rinsing and drying it will keep it clean enough that sterilization is unnessecary. – goboating Mar 24 '20 at 17:23
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    fwiw, in my area, health departments forbid sponges in restaurant kitchens. – Rob Mar 25 '20 at 11:18
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There is a school of thought that says these antibacterial sanitisers tend to be effective only against the little bugs that are virtually harmless but, by their numbers, manage to keep the big bad guys from multiplying. I’m not a scientist so I don’t know and I imagine the chemical companies certainly would not agree! I find white vinegar with some drops of lavender and peppermint oil in a spray bottle does the job well - and these are the basic ingredients of most eco-friendly cleaners. You can buy 4x5 litres of it on the web for about £14 and you can use it for cleaning glass, killing weeds as well as cleaning surfaces so it’s a pretty good bargain. I’ve used it for about 6 years and it does a good job. Btw you can use whatever essential oils you like though some, like lavender and lemon etc, are reputedly more anti bacterial. Apparently the Romans used lavender oil to clean their hands etc hence the word Lavatory meaning originally -place where you clean yourself-. Lavar in Spanish means to wash - from the same root as lavender.

Augustine
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When in my kitchen cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, I always have a clean dish pan of hot soapy water that I’ve added a few sprays (3-5) of cleaner with bleach (Clorox clean up) Before I start cooking, surfaces are wiped. I use separate cutting boards n knives for meats n veggies. Countertop wiped in between. I use both a dish cloth and sponge, cloth gets laundered, sponge get put in the dishwasher at the end of the day. If I haven’t cooked with meats, the cloth and sponge can be left out to dry overnight and used again the next day. The key is letting it dry out as bacteria multiply in moisture. Also don’t be afraid to change the water frequently in the dish pan especially if you’re going to wash dishes by hand. I always immerse my dishes And a fresh pan of hot soapy water with bleach after I’ve rinsed them off. Cleaning water should always be clear, hot, and soapy. I’m 60 years old and no one has died yet from eating from my kitchen. It’s not rocket science, just good common sense! Hope this helps, sent with love ❤️

Gamma
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