05/04/2026
The Case for Choosing Wood
Humans have historically used a wide range of surfaces to prep food, from stones to tree stumps. The kitchen workhorse has come a long way and is now available in a range of materials, including wood and plastic.
While wood cutting boards are porous and require more care than plastic, the food safety experts we spoke with named this type the superior choice.
"Wood cutting boards could be considered inherently safer," says Jennifer Pallian, RD, food scientist and founder of Foodess. "From a microbiology standpoint, plastic boards let bacteria stay on the surface where they linger. They can be picked up easily for hours after exposure and may even grow if the board stays damp overnight. Wood behaves differently. It pulls liquid and bacteria into the grain almost right away. However, within a few minutes, the microbes can't be recovered from the surface.
As the board dries, the trapped bacteria die off." In addition to the bacterial risks associated with plastic cutting boards, Pallian says growing research raises concerns over the microplastics that often chip off during cutting and make their way into food.
https://www.eatingwell.com/are-plastic-or-wood-cutting-boards-safer-11872146
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X25001280
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31113021/
https://www.saspublishers.com/article/11722/download/
https://pacificforest.com/en/wooden-cutting-board-vs-plastic/
Results: Wood Outperformed Plastic
Microbiologist Dean O. Cliver demonstrated that wood cutting boards kill and eliminate bacteria, while plastic boards allow microbes to survive and even multiply.
After just a few minutes, 99.9% of bacteria disappeared from wooden surfaces.
In tests with raw meat juices, wood absorbed the contaminated liquid, and no live bacteria could be recovered after 3–10 minutes.
The following day, no live bacteria were found on wooden boards, suggesting that wood almost “self-sterilizes.”
In contrast, plastic boards retained abundant bacterial colonies even after washing with hot water and soap.
Melisa Paguia Rocha JR Royol