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It’s likely there are countless things in your kitchen which look clean, but actually, they’re filthy. Could your dishcloths be making you sick? When was the last time you washed your tea towels? And do we really need to bleach the sink more than once a month? We asked an expert to find out. Knobs, door handles, and buttons The buttons and dials on your kitchen appliances could be a germ-fest. “People often neglect to clean these areas of the kitchen,” says Danielle Mason, a cleaning content creator – or ‘cleanfluencer’ – who creates tutorials and videos on TikTok and Instagram. “Most of the time, they don’t think it is important, but as you’re commonly handling raw meat and food, it’s extremely important to keep these areas clean, due to cross-contamination. “Always sanitise with a cloth – I like to do this with Zoflora, as it leaves a great smell afterwards, and kills bacteria from dirty fingers.” Cloths If what you clean with isn’t clean, chances are, your kitchen isn’t either. “I always leave my cloth to soak in bleach before going to bed every night,” says Mason. “This enables a new start in the morning with no bacteria. Also, make sure you’re replacing the cloths – I would suggest a new one every two weeks, whilst still bleaching every night. And make sure you’re not using this cloth on anything other than the kitchen, as you do not want to cross-contaminate.” Sponges Mason stresses sponges are unhygienic, as they’re constantly damp and can carry E. coli. “People tend not to use sponges, as they carry so many more germs, and even putting them in the microwave will not kill all of them. Avoid a sponge where possible.” Dish towels Dish towels and tea towels may not be changed anywhere near often enough. “You should have one for every day of the week, as they carry so many bacteria and germs, which get spread across the kitchen. If you’re drying pots and pans, and then wiping down your surfaces, it’s not good,” she says. Chopping boards Chopping boards – particularly wooden ones – could be a haven for bacteria. “You should have a different colour for different types of food, one for meat, fruit, and other foods,” advises Mason. “The best way to clean them is in a dishwasher, as it’s good to get rid of all the germs due to the very high heat. If you don’t like the dishwasher, then boil the kettle water and leave the chopping boards to soak in it. I use a steam cleaner on mine, as it kills 99.9% bacteria and there are no chemicals.” It is best to avoid wooden chopping boards altogether, as these cleaning methods may damage them. Kitchen sink “This is a massive breeder of bacteria and grime; a distinct microbiome is found in sinks. “The plumbing area found beneath sinks revealed microbial communities dominated by a group of bacteria called Proteobacteria. This phylum includes pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause serious disease,” Mason shares. “I’ve always been taught never to wash my hands in the sink, and to never throw dirty water down the sink. You wash your cups and plates in the sink and prepare food, so it should always be kept clean, and nothing from outside the kitchen should cross-contaminate that. For example, never wash your floors and put dirty water in your kitchen sink, always throw it down the toilet.” How do you possibly clean the inside of your sink and drains? “Baking soda and vinegar is the best way to clean your sink out, or bleach, but you must be careful with bleach, as it can stay in the bottom of your sink, depending on the material it’s made of. I clean my sink out every day.” Pipes and cupboards around your sink could be leading you to have a rodent problem. “You can prevent mice and rodents from entering the kitchen by covering any small crevices or cracks. It is also important to repair leaks as soon as they happen, as they can come through the pipes,” she says. Fridges “Deep clean [your fridge] every two months. A normal cleaning – the wiping of shelves – should be done every other day with soapy water. For any bad smells, use baking soda, which will absorb the smell from the fridge,” Mason continues. “The fridge is a breeding ground for salmonella, E. Coli and other bacteria.” Bins Where you throw your waste away could be a breeding ground for germs. “Make sure you keep [outdoor] rubbish bins away from your house, and make sure you empty your bin as soon as it’s full,” advises Mason. “I personally do not keep a bin in the kitchen, I use a bag and I take that out by the end of the day, but if you are using a bin, make sure you bleach it with hot kettle water, to keep it smelling fresh.” Read More This is why you keep waking up at 4am – and what you can do about it TV chef James Martin reveals cancer diagnosis in apology over ‘bullying’ allegations Bursts of activity that make you huff and puff ‘linked to reduced cancer risk’ Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Norwegian tourism is thriving after a weaker krone made the famously expensive Nordic country cheaper to visit and

Days after Jason Aldean went viral over a song about small town America that many commentators have interpreted as containing lyrics which amount to dog-whistle racism, the singer was mired in fresh controversy. Somewhat appropriately it was over another alleged scandal in a small town, in which a Twitter user claimed he failed to tip in a burrito restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia, having supposedly ordered 65 burritos ten minutes before the joint closed. Now, the internet wants to know if it actually happened. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter On July 20, 2023, a user posted: “Remember when @Jason_Aldean came to small town Charleston, WV, ordered 65 burritos from a local joint ten minutes before close and didn't tip anyone? Then his team reached out after the story went viral and the employees got let go? Try that in a small town." A screenshot of the tweet was widely shared on TikTok, Reddit, and other websites, three days after the Country Music Television (CMT) network pulled Aldean's new music video for his song, 'Try That in a Small Town.' Find out more about the racism scandal engulfing the song here. According to fact-checkers at Snopes, the controversy goes back to a 2017 news story by TMZ, which claimed the singer had ordered 60 burritos and a quesadilla at a restaurant called Black Sheep, which totaled around $500. “We found no concrete information on whether the order was placed for takeout and was picked up by one of Aldean's crew members, or if the entire crew sat down at the restaurant. However, the former appeared to likely have been the case, as we have so far found no photographic or video evidence of the crew eating at the restaurant,” reported the fact checkers. The tweet’s claim that the order for Aldean's crew was made "ten minutes before close" wasn’t mentioned in the original story by TMZ. Arep for Aldean said an "appropriate tip" had been left for the order back in 2017, adding: “Jason had absolutely no contact with the restaurant or any of its employees.” Meanwhile it looks like the tweet’s claim that “employees” were fired by Black Sheep because the story went viral is partially true. The original reporting from TMZ mentioned that one employee who was fired, after apparently tweeting about the order for Aldean's crew. The apparent tweets posted by the employee, which are no longer available, appeared in a second report by TMZ. One of them read: “@Jason Aldean can suck my a-- for not tipping Black Sheep, after ordering 60 burritos.” So to sum up: nobody can quite tell if the story is totally true. Aldean may not have been personally involved, but it looks like there was a big old burrito order for him and his crew, and there was definitely some controversy around the tip. We’ll have to leave the rest to your imagination. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

It’s lonely at the top – just ask Elon Musk’s former colleagues. The Twitter owner tells the same jokes and anecdotes “over and over” and “seems quite alone,” according to a former senior executive at the company. Esther Crawford, who went viral last year after being pictured sleeping on the floor of Twitter’s office while trying to meet a tough deadline set by Musk, shared her thoughts in a post on the platform which was recently renamed X. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Crawford joined Twitter when it bought her startup in 2020, well before the billionaire took over the social media platform in a $44bn deal last year. The former head of product development, who was sacked in February as part of a round of 200 layoffs, said: “Elon is oddly charming and he's genuinely funny. He also has personality quirks like telling the same stories and jokes over and over. “The challenge is his personality and demeanour can turn on a dime going from excited to angry. “Since it was hard to read what mood he might be in and what his reaction would be to any given thing, people quickly became afraid of being called into meetings or having to share negative news with him.” She said Twitter employees feared being called into meetings with him or having to deliver bad news. “At times it felt like the inner circle was too zealous and fanatical in their unwavering support of everything he said.” “Product and business decisions were nearly always the result of him following his gut instinct, and he didn't seem compelled to seek out or rely on a lot of data or expertise to inform it. “I saw a person who seemed quite alone because his time and energy was so purely devoted to work.” Meanwhile, Musk appeared to put more faith in random feedback and Twitter polls than in his employees who were working to troubleshoot problems. She said: “His boldness, passion and storytelling is inspiring, but his lack of process and empathy is painful.” However, she didn’t pull any punches about the previous management either, calling it “bloated” and “soft and entitled” where “teams could spend months building a feature and then some last-minute kerfuffle meant it'd get killed for being too risky.” Musk recently killed off the iconic bluebird Twitter logo, replacing it with a white X. He has said he wants to create a super-app inspired by China’s WeChat which would offer messaging and payments as well as social media. That vision may be difficult to make a reality, after the collapse of the platform’s advertising business as marketers soured on Musk’s decision to fire thousands of employees and dial down its content moderation efforts. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Joe Pesci's damning SNL speech about Sinead O'Connor has resurfaced following the singer's death. In the monologue delivered in the weeks following her ripping up a photo of the Pope, the actor pieces the photo back together and expresses his dismay. "I would've grabbed her by her... eyebrows. Ah, what am I doing? I'm making myself crazy, for what?", he rants. "I mean, she's just a kid, why should I care? Anyway, the Pope has probably forgiven her already, he forgave that guy that shot him, right?" Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

NatWest Group Plc, the UK lender under the spotlight for closing Nigel Farage’s bank account, has trimmed its

David Beckham urges the Glazers to sell Man Utd & leaves the door open to returning to Old Trafford in future.

Benny Safdie grew bushy eyebrows for his role as Hungarian-American physicist Edward Teller in 'Oppenheimer'.

Japan's central bank kept interest rates unchanged Friday despite rising inflation but hinted that it could gradually abandon years of ultra-cheap money, sending the yen soaring and stocks tumbling.

The Israeli-Lebanon front line holds ever-present risks of a new and devastating conflict.

Germany exited its winter recession in the second quarter but output only stagnated, with questions about the fundamental

Sinead O’Connor’s death at age 56 this week has led to an outpouring of grief from both celebrities and normal people whose lives the iconic singer touched. Neil Gaiman, the English novelist, is the latest, having shared a coincidence that occurred hours before O’Connor’s death was announced. Gaiman was at the Golden Notebook bookshop in Woodstock, New York, the writer said, where employees gave him a signed copy of Why Sinead O’Connor Matters by the journalist Allyson McCabe. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter He said he did not personally select the book, but “[t]hey chose it for me.” That same day, on 26 July, O’Connor’s passing was announced publicly. The synopsis of McCabe’s book is as follows: “In 1990, Sinéad O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U” turned her into a superstar. “Two years later, an appearance on Saturday Night Live turned her into a scandal. For many people — including, for years, the author — what they knew of O’Connor stopped there. “Allyson McCabe believes it’s time to reassess our old judgments about Sinéad O’Connor and to expose the machinery that built her up and knocked her down.” Gaiman's fans have responded to the unusual coincidence in their droves. Why Sinead O’Connor Matters was published in May 2023. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.