Is a wooden tray safe to use after cleaning mold?
Mold can penetrate deep into porous wood, meaning surface cleaning might not eliminate spores or toxins embedded below. Using a mold-damaged tray for food risks contamination, especially since wood holds moisture that allows mold to return.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1discarding the tray
- 2washing the tray
- 3Scrubbing with dish soap, steel wool, or abrasive cleansers
- 4Dunking in bleach to kill the mold
- 5Using Barkeepers Friend to remove rust spots
- 6Throwing them away and purchasing a new set
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“If I can get the mold off, are the knives still safe to use?”source ↗
“Do you think it is still safe to use? I put foodstuff on it, although not in direct contact with the surface of the tray, but still I don't want to take chances.”source ↗
“I asked because I don’t know if they’ll be safe to use if I get the mold off.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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