More About Non-Toxic Cutting Boards

Are wooden cutting boards safe?

Yes, and they are safer than plastic!

The idea that plastic is safer than wood cutting boards makes sense on first thought — plastic doesn’t have pores, so any bacteria can be washed off — whereas wood is porous and absorbs liquids and the bacteria in them, making the absorbed bacteria impossible to get rid of. But! It turns out that’s not true. Wood is indeed safer than plastic. Here is why:

Dr. Seri Robinson, a professor of wood anatomy, explains that wood does indeed absorb liquid and bacteria deep into the wood fibers of the cutting board, because wood likes to distribute moisture evenly. But, once the cutting board dries and all the water evaporates out of it, the bacteria stays trapped in the wood fibers and dies there, because they don’t have oxygen or moisture. Once bacteria are absorbed, they do not migrate back out to the surface.

Bacteria left behind on the surface of a plastic cutting board multiplies. Bacteria left on wood, on the other hand, is absorbed, doesn’t multiply, and very little is detected on the wood after 10 minutes, and even less after 24 hours. An amazing study was done on this: Salmonella and Listeria were put onto different types of cutting boards, then wiped up, and analyzed to find these results.

Finally, wood is naturally antimicrobial: bacteria tend to die quickly when exposed to wood. This is thought to be in part due to wood’s low pH, and also because wood is a plant with active compounds— it contains antioxidants, antifungals, anticancer compounds, and other compounds.

I have used an unfinished, solid wood cutting board for years.

Can bacteria hide in knife grooves?

Yes, but it is only a problem for plastic cutting boards. Because plastic doesn’t have wood’s wicking action, the bacteria can get trapped in grooves. If you use plastic cutting boards, it’s important to replace them when you see visible grooves.

If I disinfect my plastic cutting board, is it safer than a wood cutting board?

No. Plastic cutting boards release microplastics into your food, as well as any of the chemicals blended in with the plastic itself, like BPA, PFAS, dyes, and other additives.

Will mold grow on my wooden cutting board?

Mold will only grow on a wooden cutting board if water doesn’t evaporate. Mold requires water to survive, so be sure to let your wooden cutting boards dry completely on a rack before putting them away to prevent this.

What is the safest type of wood for a cutting board?

A solid piece of unfinished, highly porous wood is the best type of wood for a cutting board. That may surprise you, but the better it can soak in liquids, the better it actually performs in testing that analyzes how much bacteria stays on the board. We learned this in 2023, and it was big news, because previously people thought that tight, less porous wood, or wood with coatings, would repel bacteria. But, it turns out, those woods act more like plastic, and more bacteria stays on their surface where it can multiply. In the main study about this, European beech was best at reducing Salmonella and oak was best at reducing Listeria.

What is the safest type of finish for a cutting board?

None! Raw wood is best for reducing bacteria. But, if you do like the look of a finish, a single layer of plant-based oil will still allow bacteria to be captured and killed by the natural properties of wood. Avoid many, many layers, which will make the wood act more like plastic, as well as waxes, shellac, and varnishes, which do so even more. And, if you already own a wooden cutting board with some kind of finish on it, it is still much, much better than a plastic cutting board. It will still reduce the bacterial load somewhat, and it is not introducing any microplastics into your food. If you sand it to make it smooth, don’t make it toooo smooth — anything finer than 400 grit may slow the killing of bacteria.

Why does a Prop 65 warning come with my unfinished raw wood cutting board?

This is because Prop 65 takes into account possible exposures that not just you, but the workers making the products are exposed to, and wood dust is technically associated with nasal cancer— this is super rare, and generally a concern in workers that don’t wear a mask while breathing it in all day. You will not be exposed to any wood dust from your cutting board.

Why don’t you have any bamboo cutting boards listed?

Bamboo itself is great, but it requires many, many strips of it, glued together, to create one board. While some non-toxic glue presents a very minimal exposure possibility, the amount used in bamboo is much more, and there aren’t advantages to bamboo above other, solid wood options.

Do cutting boards really have 200 times the amount of fecal bacteria as your toilet seat?

No! This myth caught on because it sounds shocking — in started in 2014, and is consistently repeated by media outlets even now, however, the “original study” doesn’t actually exist — Food and Wine did a bit of journalistic investigation on this and you can read more here.