Is a bit of dirt good for you? Are we too clean? Are we creating sterile environments which make us less resistant to fighting off infections?
All these questions keep coming up – but what truth is there in them? First, I’d say that no-one is telling anyone to create a sterile environment, and to disinfect every surface we can see. Moderation in all things is important, and with cleaning, the message is to ensure that the surfaces that really matter are cleaned to high standards, which would mean to disinfect them, and other things just need to be visibly clean.
As a busy mum, I don’t have the time or inclination to create a sterile home environment – and that’s just not possible anyway. What I do concentrate on though is making sure that after handling raw meat and poultry I am particularly careful to wash my hands thoroughly and to disinfect the surfaces and utensils – this takes minutes, but could prevent no end of suffering. If you have had food poisoning, you will know what I mean. Equally, if you take your kids to the farm, you don’t want them to be at risk of E.coli, so hand washing and taking care is essential – particularly before having a picnic or meal in the café. So the message is, let kids get mucky, but before they eat, make them wash their hands – the old values need to come back.
Studies in the home that we have carried out have been enlightening – I can’t see much evidence of sterile homes at all! Kitchen cloths, fridges, taps etc all have been found to harbour bacteria, and some of them potentially hazardous, so I can’t buy in to the theory that we are all too clean!
So some dirt may be ok for you, but don’t eat E.coli O157, Campylobacter or Salmonella, and leave out the Listeria too! Simple measures with the knowledge of how these bacteria can enter the home or kitchen, and controlling them through proper storage, cooking and cleaning takes very little time up, costs little, and can save you and your family or customers no end of trouble, for many of these illnesses result in not just a bit of diarrhoea and vomiting but can have long lasting ill-effects such as reactive arthritis, kidney failure and even death. After all, you wouldn’t want to be responsible for that would you? A bit of disinfection and cleaning is a small price to pay and when it comes to removing those pathogens, you can’t be too clean.
