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Headquarters
Fifth & Cherry Headquarters
609 S. Goliad Street, #154
Rockwall, TX 75087
info@fifthandcherry.com
Phone: 484-272-2253

Factory
Fifth & Cherry Manufacturing
37 Carpenter Street
Reading, PA 19602
customercare@fifthandcherry.com

You're Eating More Plastic Than You Think

Plastic is a very common alternative material for cutting boards, largely because of its low production cost. People have also been led to believe that raw meats should only be cut on plastic because it’s more sanitary. 

But the reality is that plastic is actually less sanitary than wood; and in addition, every time you use a plastic cutting board, you are ingesting microplastics.

Microplastics are just what they sound like...they’re plastic particles that break off from a larger piece of plastic, and there is a good chance they’re in your digestive system right now. According to a 2019 study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, humans may be consuming anywhere from 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles a year.

Anyone who owns a plastic cutting board knows that the more you cut on it, the deeper the knife grooves get. It’s a soft material that yields to your knife - a good thing for your knives, right? Yes, however it comes with two negative and largely unknown side effects:

  • As the grooves get deeper, water, the juice from food, and bacteria get trapped in the grooves and even a sanitization cycle on your dishwasher can’t penetrate those areas. The next time you cut into those grooves, your knife picks up that trapped bacteria and it’s transferred back to your food.
  • As you rotate your knife while you’re cutting, you’re inevitably cutting off small chunks of plastic which get into your food and ultimately into your body.

The end-grain construction that we use for the Fifth & Cherry cutting boards means the wood also yields to your knives, keeping them sharper, longer; but the main difference is that end-grain wood is self-healing. As you cut, the wood fibers separate, allowing your knife blade to pass through, and as you lift your knife, the wood fibers come back together. This means you’ll end up with surface scratches, but not deep grooves. 

Additionally, since wood is an organic material, it actually absorbs and traps the water that bacteria need to grow. It has been scientifically proven that as a wood cutting board dries, bacteria will die in as little as three minutes. And if that’s not reassuring enough, you can also naturally sanitize your wood cutting board with vinegar. 

So if you’re like us and wondering: “How can I avoid eating so much plastic?!” Or you just want a more sanitary cutting surface for your family, we appreciate your consideration of a Fifth & Cherry cutting board. Remember to use the discount code you received for signing up for our newsletter, and as always, our boards ship for free!

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