Whether you are drying dishes, grabbing a hot pan or dealing with an unexpected spill, tea towels and dishcloths are among the hardest-working items in the kitchen.
But how long should one really stay in use before it goes in the wash?
The question has sparked plenty of debate online, with some people insisting they should be replaced daily and others admitting they wait until there is an obvious smell.
Now a microbiologist has weighed in with a clear answer — and it may mean adding more laundry to your routine.
Dr Primrose Freestone, a microbiologist at the University of Leicester, says tea towels should be swapped out every single day.
Although they look harmless, the cloths used for drying plates and wiping up mess can quickly turn into an ideal place for bacteria to multiply.
If they are left damp or reused after cleaning contaminated spills, they can spread harmful germs such as E. coli and Salmonella around kitchen surfaces.
Dr Freestone told Our News Outlet: ‘You could get sick if the tea towel has mopped up fluids with infectious bacteria in them and then re-used to contaminate a previously clean area.’
According to Dr Primrose Freestone, a microbiologist from the University of Leicester, you should change out your tea towels every single day
The question of dishcloth cleanliness has left social media divided into two camps.
On one side are the relaxed cleaners who only change out their tea towels when it feels like they really need a wash.
On Reddit, where the discussion recently reignited, one commenter said they would only change their tea towel ‘when it stinks. When it looks dirty.’
Another added: ‘I change things when they get gross. So, when you can see stains on the dish towels and cloths.’
On the other hand, many fastidious homeowners insist on swapping out their cleaning cloths far more frequently.
One commenter wrote: ‘Dishcloths and rags every day or every other day, MAX every third day. Anything else is gross when they’re used in the kitchen.’
Although it might seem like an awful lot of cleaning, the experts agree that it is far more hygienic to change out your tea towel every single day.
That is because your hands, cooked and uncooked food, and the kitchen itself are full of germs that can thrive and multiply inside your tea towel.
The question of dishcloth cleanliness has left social media divided, with many complaining that dishcloths spread germs and need to be disinfected regularly
When you wipe your hands or clean up a spill, germs from the environment are picked up by the tea towel.
Inside the cotton or linen fibres of a traditional tea towel, bacteria find a perfect environment to thrive.
Dr Freestone says: ‘When tea towels are used multiple times to both dry pots and mop up food debris, an environment is created which favours growth of bacteria with dampness and nutrients.
‘Kitchens favour this growth by being quite warm environments.
‘Bacteria which can cause food poisoning can grow well at room temperature.’
So, when you next go to dry a plate, those bacteria get transferred directly to your otherwise clean dishes.
That is why it is so important to make sure you hang your tea towels out to dry properly in between uses.
While studies have found that bacteria, including Salmonella, can grow in all tea towels, they multiply faster in those left crumpled up in balls.
If the tea towel was hung out to dry for 24 hours instead, bacteria levels were 1,000 times lower – which results in a lower risk of infection.
In one study, researchers used tea towels to wipe chopping boards that had been used to prepare raw chicken infected with salmonella, which can cause diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps.
When the cloths were tested afterwards, 90 per cent now contained Salmonella bacteria as well.
Other studies have found that kitchen surfaces can harbour food poisoning-causing E. coli, Enterobacter, which can cause respiratory tract infections, and Klebsiella, which has been linked to serious infections of the lungs, bladder, brain and blood.
Since these bacteria can be picked up and transferred by a tea towel, Dr Freestone says it is important to make sure yours are washed daily.
Dr Freestone says: ‘If a tea towel gets obviously dirty then it is more than time to wash it.
‘After washing, you can sanitise any microbes remaining using boiling water or a disinfectant such as bleach, diluted as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
‘ Ironing tea towels on a hot setting will also effectively sanitise them.’
