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.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Is a wooden tray safe to use after cleaning mold?
- 1discarding the trayDid this help you?
- 2washing the trayDid this help you?
- 3Scrubbing with dish soap, steel wool, or abrasive cleansersDid this help you?
- 4Dunking in bleach to kill the moldDid this help you?
- 5Using Barkeepers Friend to remove rust spotsDid this help you?
- 6Throwing them away and purchasing a new setDid this help you?
- 7Taking a wet wipe or some sort of cleaning liquid to itDid this help you?
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 ↗
“Bamboo steam basket. One of the layers has some spots, in the picture. Not sure what's normal or not with these.”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
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