Why do cutting boards need to be resurfaced?

With normal daily use, cutting boards are cut, scraped, exposed to wide temperature swings and ravaged by harsh chemicals. Most people mistakenly believe that by washing them at night and using an approved sanitizer periodically throughout the day will keep them clean and sanitary – IT WILL NOT! Plastic cutting boards are, by design, made up of densely packed polymers. When a sharp knife cuts into the surface, the “surface tension” along the cut is released; creating a gap in which the protein of whatever is being prepared is allowed to enter an otherwise non-porous surface. Water, detergents and sanitizers can neutralize most of this contamination but, not all of it. The danger area exists at the deepest part of the cut. This area, measured in microns (1 micron = one millionth part of a meter), is where micro-organisms reside unaffected by water, detergents or sanitizers (even under pressure). Since liquid cleaners cannot reach this microscopic point, the clean/kill ratio cannot take place.