Meat – Separate cutting boards: Cooked vs Uncooked meat

cutting-boardsfood-safetymeatraw-meat

I know it is common knowledge that one should using different cutting boards for meat and vegetables (cross contamination), but should you also use a different cutting board for raw/cooked meat? Or at least clean the raw meat cutting board first? My roommate thinks the different meat/vegetable cutting board is absolute, so as long as you cut meat on one board you are safe. But I'm pretty sure a surface where raw meat was on can't be safe can it? Thanks.

Best Answer

You can use the same board (I often do), but you must wash it in hot, soapy water in-between. Usually there is plenty of time to do this while the meat is cooking. Because bacteria grows exponentially, I'd recommend washing the board soon, even if you aren't going to reuse it, to prevent accidental cross-contamination.

If you're using one meat board, you should also wash it between different kinds of meat. For example, pork and chicken typically have different bacteria risks and different cooking temperatures because of those bacteria. If you cross contaminate, then safely cooked pork may still have a risk of salmonella.

And, of course, you should wash your knives, spatulas, tongs, etc between handling uncooked and cooked meats.