Unfortunately, many problems related to health arise from unhealthy environments, including kitchens that are not clean. Knowledge of kitchen appliances and their disadvantages can save you from any unexpected damage. Make your home environment healthy in order to protect yourselves from any known threats.
The family’s health is a vital responsibility of a housewife. Just like other parts of the house, precautions should be taken to keep the kitchen clean as well. Especially now a days when the presence of chemicals in everyday items has been proven now. The kitchen is the center for health in any house. Each activity here has a direct relationship with the family’s health. Unfortunately, many problems related to health arise from unhealthy environments, including kitchens that are not clean.
Dishcloth or Dustcloth: Every kitchen has different material clothes for cleaning counters, stove, cabinets and other areas. They should be changed weekly. Every square inch of these is inhabited by thousands of germs (that can only be seen under the microscope). As they become worn off, contamination by different eatable things gives rise to injurious bacteria that evolve on them over time. If buying new ones isn’t possible, atleast make sure to wash them properly.
Food Packaging: Oestrogen like chemicals eg, Phthalates are used in plastic containers and bags used to pack food items. This plays an important role in giving rise to cancer causing microbes. It causes complicated diseases in pregnant women and newborn babies, as well as adversely affects reproductive health. Whenever possible, food packaged in containers should be used with precaution.
Leftover food: Everyone should keep this rule in mind that leftover food should be used one more time only. Never re-freeze melted icecream; once it melts it becomes an exemplary place for bacteria to grow in. Frozen items should only be used or warmed once because eating them after refreezing them increases the danger of illnesses.
Toasters: Cleaning them is difficult. They are also called home/house killers because worldwide thousands have died due to receiving current from toasters. The electric shocks from them can prove fatal for the weak. Often women use knives or spoons to take out the bread at breakfast time in a hurry. When this metal touches the electric, electric rays are transmitted faster and the person in contact can hardly protect himself from an electric shock.
Refrigerators: When buying a fridge, quality should be considered because it has been seen that quality affects its overall performance. Every brand of refrigerator has its own way of keeping food safe with other eatables. Children should be taught to not treat it like a cupboard, the door should not be opened again and again or else the food stays unprotected from external microbes; this way it can become stale even when kept inside the fridge.
Microwave oven: Food items and water kept in microwave should not be heated till they start boiling. Just heat them enough to get it warm, do not wait for it to boil. Cooking eggs in a microwave can always become dangerous so avoid that. If you want to use the microwave to heat any food item tea or coffe, then use a lid to cover it before heating it. But avoid heating air tight container foods because this can be hazardous too.
Frozen Food: Today there is a trend to preserve food by freezing it in every house. Keeping uncooked meat in the freezer also gives rise to many illnesses. Often ladies keep dumping uncooked meat in the freezers and this way the meat gets hidden in the heap and so doesn’t get cooked on time. Also, sometimes it happens that the meat (chicken mutton or fish) is taken out of the freezer and kept in water to de-freeze before cooking. However due to some reason it is not cooked and kept back into the freezer again. This is highly dangerous because as soon as the frozen food temperature falls, the bacteria start to flourish in it.
Sink: While washing used dishes, the sink gets dirty too, so to keep it clean is also essential. To keep this part of the kitchen clean requires reliable, eco-friendly cleaners which are of some st standard. Use white vinegar and salt to clean the sink. All sorts of acid-based detergents, gutter-opening or oil cleaning powders and cleaners cause difficulty in breathing and are dangerous for children as well as sick members of the household.
Utensils and Furniture Fabrics: PFOA named chemical is found on non-stick utensils and can be a cause of thyroid disease. This hazardous chemical is used in clothing, furniture as well as in some food packaging. Hence, be careful in buying such utensils.
Anti-bacterial products: To clean the kitchen, anti-bacterial liquids are considered to provide complete protection against bacteria. Included in these are triclosan, which has shown to cause hormonal problems in animals. Auto immune diseases which are working against the body’s defense mechanisms, e.g. asthma and eczema, are known to be more popular in children and the reason is attributed to such anti-bacterial products use. Hence, these defense-against-bacteria based artificial products effect the immune system of children badly. Keep your kitchen free from bacteria but at the same time make sure that there is proper cleaning of kitchen appliances as well and take special care of your family.t.
