Originally published in the Observer/Eccentric newspapers
An email from my Canadian friend and writer Diane Armstrong
prompted me to write again about the dishwasher and my concerns on the subject
of bacteria. I also had the pleasure of being a speaker in front of the
Michigan State Medical Society Alliance and that could lead to a doctor telling
you how to load your dishwasher. In any case, this now is a subject of
world-wide interest and I will keep you posted as to what the scientists
discover.
Diane writes: I have been meaning to write to ask you if you
have a copy of a column you wrote long ago about ‘cleaning’ the dishes before
you put them in the dishwasher. It followed a TV ad that showed an entire cake
being put in the machine. My daughter-in-law has been complaining that her
brand new dishwasher just doesn’t clean all the dishes. When I asked if she
scraped all the dishes and/or rinsed them lightly under the tap first, she
said, “Oh the book said I don’t have to. There’s a garberator in my new
appliance.” Just how effective are these garberators? Frankly, I think she
should use the garbage can and not rely on a garberator in her dishwasher. (garberator is a Canadian word for garbage
disposer)
Reply: Yes Diane, I did write a column shortly after those
ads appeared on television and that ad was pulled shortly after. I can’t find
it but it is somewhere in this computer of mine. This “thing” is not like a
washing machine where I once pulled my friend Steve’s silk undershorts out of
his pump. My organizational skills don’t allow me to hit a button and pull up
specific column. I’m sorry. That advertisement with the supposed garberator was
meant to entice more sales for that brand of product. I protested that it
implicated that someone might throw a turkey carcass into the dishwasher and it
would not matter how much food could be left on a dinner plate. The appliance
service industry loved that ad because now they were being called to homes to
repair this cheap little metal cutter blade located on top of the motor assembly.
Most service technicians were advising consumers to remove this blade or
further problems would continue to cause expensive repairs. Enough said about
how much the manufacturers care about dependability.
In a recent interview with Gregg Stebbin, the editor of
menshealthmagazine.com
he talked about the proper way to load a dishwasher. There is no doubt that
bacteria will grow inside the dishwasher. It will work its way into the rubber
door seals and the scientific world is doing a lot of work to determine what
sickness is produced in a dishwasher. Gregg points out that dishes should be
clean going into the dishwasher and if you are not going to operate it
immediately, you should rinse them in a sink full of water with a shot glass of
bleach mixed into that water. As for cleaning the inside of the dishwasher I
have preached the Tang treatment for the past 30 years but I now have people
telling me that Tang is hard to find. Recently I have been telling homeowners
to try a new product called Lemi Shine. I know it works, I have tried it. It’s
available at some of our major grocery chains.
Note—I have been writing this column for a very long time
and many of the things I predicted 25 years ago have come true. I now predict
that it will be proven in the years ahead that certain illness and disease come
from certain products in the home. I know it now and I’m not even close to
being what you might call intelligent. Wait until you find out what is inside
of a hot water tank! Stay tuned.
What can I do for smelly ice. This is my second Kenmore and I have the same experience with both.
