Please read the following post for important information on how I’ve chosen my recommendations:
TLDR: Buying the right cutting board will cut down on your risk of food-borne illnesses.
Why you should care: “In the United States, billions of dollars are spent directly on medical expenses from foodborne diseases and billions more are lost due to decreases in employee productivity. Cutting boards could serve as sources of contamination by allowing pathogens to survive and multiply, especially if remnants of raw meat or poultry remain on the surface after food preparation” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877412000040
What you should buy: https://www.johnboos.com/products/maple-bbq-cutting-board-with-juice-groove-professional-collection
(Not all John Boos cutting boards are NSF certified so check before you order. The board comes with two coats of mineral oil so just wash that off. Also don’t worry about rubbing it with a rough sponge. More surface area actually means less bacteria for wood!)
OK, cutting boards are SUPER interesting, and there’s a lot of contradictory information floating around out there. I went directly to the scientific studies to find the best one for your health.
This study suggests that you should get an iron cutting board. https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/expedition/article/view/199721 I would go a step further and say you should get a copper cutting board. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3067274/ But neither of those are readily available or affordable or even necessary.
Most people use either a stainless steel or wood cutting board. Plastic cutting boards aren’t recommended because they add microplastics to your food, which is bad for your health. https://www.foodandwine.com/are-plastic-cutting-boards-safe-8624857
For an extra layer of caution, you want a solid wood cutting board that does NOT have a coating and does NOT use glue but DOES have a deep juice trench. That’s because wood is pretty awesome at killing a lot of bacteria. Wood is porous so when you get wet bacteria on it, it tries to create an equilibrium. That means it draws the water into its grain and the bacteria inside it dies. https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1541-4337.12199 If you have a coating, all that water just stays on top and the bacteria won’t die. This study shows that European beech had one of the lowest levels of bacteria overall https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/13/4/752 In one study, the bacteria Campylobacter (which causes diarrhea) survived for only 3 hours, whereas it lasted longer on stainless steel and plastic. https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/17/3245
So what does this mean? Should I buy a wood cutting board? Does it need to be beech? Not necessarily. It depends on the type of bacteria you’re worried about. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00003-015-0949-5
Overall, wood is probably better if you want to be extra cautious. But thoroughly washing your cutting board (no matter what it’s made of) with soap and hot water is really the best way to get rid of most bacteria. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713523000786 Again, it’s a matter of which bacteria you’re worried about. This suggests that you should have a separate cutting board solely for cutting meat and another cutting board for stuff that’s not going to be thoroughly cooked. https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/17/3245
It’s also good to get a cutting board with a deep juice trench to keep icky bacteria from leaking onto the counter.
So the stainless steel vs wood debate doesn’t matter too much. Let’s look at sustainability. My pick is NSF certified. I also liked this cutting board because it’s black walnut, which is pretty sustainable, but it doesn’t have a NSF certification. https://fromourplace.com/products/walnut-cutting-board
Some cutting boards are made of bamboo. Isn’t that more sustainable? It might be, depending on where it’s made and if forests were clearcut to grow bamboo. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend it because there aren’t enough studies that look at the bacteria levels on bamboo cutting boards.
Additional Reading:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877412000040
https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2024/01/only-these-three-cutting-boards-are-truly-non-toxic.html
https://www.zwilling.com/us/zwilling-cutting-boards-21-inch-x-16-inch-cutting-board-beechwood–35118-100/35118-100-0.htm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713522001657
https://www.carawayhome.com/products/cutting-board-set
https://www.costco.com/teakhaus-extra-large-cutting-board.product.4000284129.html
https://theboardsmith.com
https://thegoodnesswell.com/the-best-non-toxic-cutting-boards/ https://sustainablykindliving.com/non-toxic-cutting-boards/
https://theroundup.org/non-toxic-cutting-boards/
https://themindfulfork.com/eco-friendly-cutting-boards/
Photo Credit: featured image, Thomas Park/in-line photo Joel & Jasmin Førestbird