Sponges

I've seen the headlines that kitchen sponges are dirtier, with regard to germ counts, than toilet seats, but I still use a sponge to clean my dishes. Why? Because I've also seen the headlines that soap and water is as or more effective for killing germs than hand sanitizers. Most reports say that soap and water will kill almost all germs in 20-25 seconds (the length of time it typically takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice or the "ABC" song once). My dishes and sponge are in contact with hot water and soap for at least that long.

My sponge may not look pristine any more but I defy bugs to reside on my soap-saturated sponge.

While we're talking about germs, you've heard that you need to cook meat to 165 deg F in order to kill the bad bugs residing in the meat. Turns out you only need to have the meat at that temperature for 1 second. Or so I've heard. You can kill the bad bugs at 150 deg F after 2-6 minutes according to the FDA. Those bugs include salmonella and E. coli. Seems like we tend to overcook our meat.