From what I've read, bamboo is a much harder material than end grain hardwood and so lacks the properties of that board. End grain hardwood supposedly sucks viral and bacterial matter deep into the wood where it is rendered harmless while plastic and bamboo keep those contaminants on the surface of the board to cross infect other food.
I'm not saying I know what I'm talking about, I'm just saying that UC Davis did a study and this is what THEY found. I made my purchase based on the results of that study. I guess I'm channeling my inner nerd.
SNIP
I have two plastic cutting boards in addition to the end grain hardwood board and have no plans to throw them away. Why should I?
Anyway, grill on, gents.
As an amateur chef and long time constant cook (hobby for 40 years!), this is a well traveled road.
Lengthy, detailed studies emerged from well respected institutions dealing with the cutting board issues starting about 20 - 25 years ago.
First we found we should get rid of all of our wood cutting boards as we would all die soon from their use. Plastic, HDP, and the relatives were the new way, the only safe way. Wood couldn't received an NSF certification, so it was deemed unsafe.
Certified chefs, butchers, caterers and others had been using wood cutting boards for literally
centuries, so what happened overnight? Plastic was king.
Then it was discovered that plastic was more easily sanitized >IF< you ran the boards through your commericial dishwasher, which was not done with wooden boards. Restauranteurs, chefs, etc., brought their old wood boards out the closet and starting using them again as they had, because they felt that the plastic boards were harder to clean during the day, and they were too hard on their knives.
Let a few years pass.
Another study is performed by another college to settle the question of wood vs. plastic, again. This time wood wins.
It is found that in cutting on a plastic boards, the surface undergoes a physical deformation, rolling a tiny plastic curl over under which all manner of bad things can hide. This required studious scrubbing to remove those imperceptible curls, but it had to be done if you wanted to keep your plastic boards. Further, it was found that acids found in some woods (such as white oak) actually worked to kill bacteria over a 24 hour period. No such antiseptic value was found in plastic, so we all went back to wood. We felt we were right all along in not throwing away our wood boards, as our ancestors had used almost back to recorded time, and with responsible cleaning, no problems ensued.
Subsequent studies (this is an ongoing argument in the food
industry) revealed that the more close grained woods such as maple, cherry, etc., outperformed wood with tubules such as oak, hickory, or other nut woods with regularity in ease of sanitation. They also warned against open grains as holes to catch debris and germs, and warned specifically against end grained boards. Tell
that to an old school butcher! Their main chopping block was almost always end grain wood.
A word about responsible cleaning. I have about 5 boards I use constantly. One thing I learned from those seesawing studies was the importance of proper cleaning. My preferred method (taken from one of the studies) is to use a very coarse stainless steel (the pads that look like shavings from drilling metal) and chlorine cleanser. A sprinkle of cleanser and vigorous application of that scouring pad take off any micro chips, curls or any other deformation left from cutting and leave the boards smooth. The chlorine kills any residual "stuff". I quick rinse with dishwashing liquid and I am done. I dry the boards, and set them aside.
I don't mix the boards. I will use a board for heavy meat prep raw or cooked, and won't use it for 24 hours after cleaning. I use another board. For vegetables, etc., I will wash a board, dry it, and use it again immediately. But I always wait on the meat boards.
As far as bamboo goes, this has not been as well received as manufacturers anticipated. The reason is how hard they are and in turn how hard they are on cutting instruments. I read that bamboo boards are up to 16% phenolic resin, resin that has been heated, and pressured to something like 60,000 psi, much like stabilized knife handles. Since the resin penetrates so completely there is little or no chance of any "sucking" into the grain of a properly manufactured and maintained board.
I love my bamboo boards, but they are hell on my older, softer knives.
Personally, I use wood, plastic and bamboo. They are different shapes and designs for different uses. I personally think with proper cleaning and maintenance they are all quite safe.
Robert
