Drying your dishes would not just be about leaving them for the water to dry up. In fact, you should be more careful and take notice of certain factors after washing your dishes and before you keep them away.
Should not be wet
It is important to remember here that you MUST never store your dishes when they are still wet. In a recent study published in a reputable journal, it was found that dishes can easily be contaminated with bacteria when they are wet and stored.
Back to square one
The concept is simple and pretty straightforward. Here are some points to consider:
- bacteria is everywhere
- moist and warm environments will encourage growth of more bacteria
- recontamination will occur because of the presence of water and moist
So, the idea is to dry your dishes after washing them before you start encouraging bacteria to grow and eventually cause you some form of medical condition.
What are the risks?
One thing for sure, these claims are not made without any supporting data. In fact, it was found in a study that there was more bacteria found on more than 100 dishes served which were washed using a standard dishwasher. Between the entire stack, half of them were air-dried while the others were left wet and then stacked. Not much difference were found in the first 24 hours but the next 24 proved significant.
The biggest problem really is that if you are in fast-moving environment, some dishes do not stay stacked for a long time which is why most of the dishes are not air-dried. It is usually taken for granted that they can be stacked wet. This is where you need to consider the concept of last-in-first-out which means the wet ones at the bottom of the stack will be left for a longer time. Bacteria, after all are the main cause of inflammation, infections and if the situation worsens, even terminal diseases.