- A recent TikTok video recommends using a paper towel more than once to clean up a mess.
- Food safety experts say reusing paper towels can contribute to spreading bacteria in the kitchen.
- When in doubt, sanitize kitchen surfaces with a clean cloth, soap and water between uses.
Whether you’re concerned about the health of the planet or simply concerned about saving money, you might be looking for ways to reduce waste in the kitchen. Maybe that means repurposing dinner leftovers for lunches throughout the week, or maybe it means trying to get as many uses out of your kitchen sponges as possible. And if you’re all about reusing, you might even try getting multiple uses out of your paper towels, as one TikTok user recently demonstrated.
In a recent video on TikTok, user @mikalamacfadzen shares that she loves Bounty paper towels because they stand up to multiple uses. She demonstrates how, after her toddler smears a pouch of food all over their high chair tray, she can wipe up as much of the mess as possible, then rinse out the paper towel. She repeats the process of wiping and rinsing the towel until the tray is completely clean.
To the TikToker’s and Bounty’s credit, the paper towel held up to the multiple rinses. But we were conflicted. While it would be nice to make a roll of paper towels last twice as long, reusing a paper towel might make it hard to keep surfaces clean of bacteria in the kitchen—which is pretty important. We decided to check in with an expert, and his answer was decisive.
So, should you use paper towels more than once? “For food safety and cross contamination reasons my answer would be 100% no,” said Stephen Chavez, senior chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education’s Los Angeles campus.
Chavez offers up an acronym, FATTOM, used by food handlers in their certification education to help everyone remember food safety. FATTOM stands for: food, acidity, time, temperature, oxygen and moisture, which are ideal conditions in which foodborne pathogens can spread most rapidly.
Chavez broke down his concerns for reusing paper towels step by step, using the TikTok post as an example.
“If the towel has any food (F) on it, then that is the start of a potentially hazardous situation,” said Chavez. It’s unclear if the towel is at room temperature when rinsed in the sink, but if it is, he says, “that puts pathogens square in the middle of the food safety temperature danger zone… Obviously there is oxygen (O) present for pathogens to live,” Chavez adds. “And any moisture (M) on the towel is a vehicle for pathogens to spread.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doesn’t speak to paper towel use directly, but they stress that you should use a clean towel on your hands whenever possible, and, if at home, switch to a fresh one once your towel is visibly dirty or damp.
If you’re cleaning something that will be used for food consumption, it’s best to use something clean. Wet paper towels, unlike soap and water or other cleaning agents, don’t remove germs, so if your toddler puts their adorable but grubby hands on their high chair, they’re leaving behind germs. The CDC actually has stricter recommendations for cleaning infant feeding items, and they recommend washing high chair trays in hot soapy water or a weakened bleach solution between uses.
Of course, you could occasionally reuse a paper towel to get the last of the muck off of a counter or a tray, but you should be sure to go back and actually sanitize the surface afterwards. And if you want to move beyond paper towels altogether, consider opting for sponge cloths, Swedish dishcloths or even a roll of reusable paper towels with some cool designs. Some of these options can even go right into the dishwasher when they need a good cleaning, making them ultra-convenient.
Another green solution is using a regular towel and throwing it in the washing machine after wiping up the mess. Just remember that the surface might need to be sanitized after you use the towel, and using a towel and water alone might not make the surface food-safe.
In the case of the high chair, taking off the whole tray and cleaning it in the sink with hot, soapy water would disinfect it and would use no towels of any kind. If you have room to let it air dry, you won’t need to get a towel involved at all.
Let’s be clear—the TikToker wasn’t wrong or negligent by reusing a paper towel to clean the high chair. But cleaning the high chair with soap and hot water before the next meal is a key step to keep the surface safe. Similarly, when using paper towels on food surfaces or other high-touch locations, make sure to finish with a cleanser that will sanitize the space and get it ready to be used again.
