Your Microwave Can Be a Sanctuary for Surprisingly Resistant Bacteria

If you haven’t cleaned your microwave in a while, you might want to get into that. New research has revealed that these kitchen items can hold the strongest bacteria yet discovered.

Researchers tested 30 microwaves and found that nearly 750 different types of bacteria call these devices home, including some you wouldn’t want in your food or on your fingers.

“Some types of genera found in home microwaves, such as Klebsiella, Enterococcus again Aeromonas, it may be dangerous to human health,” said Daniel Torrent, a researcher at Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence SL, who worked on this study. “However, it is important to note that the microbial population found in microwaves does not present a unique or increased risk compared to other common kitchen surfaces.”

Klebsiellafor example, a virus commonly found in human feces that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says can cause pneumonia and blood infections in humans, adding that it is “increasingly resistant to antibiotics.” Enterococcus again Aeromonas they are just related.

It may seem counterintuitive that anything could survive a microwave oven, which heats food by blasting it with radiation. Microwaves are a type of non-ionizing radiation, meaning they do not have the ability to change molecules and atoms, and the levels found in your kitchen microwave are not believed to be harmful to humans. While microwaving your food for the right amount of time does kill bacteria, according to the FDA, that’s because of the heat generated, not the radiation itself.

Not all microwaves host the same types of microbiomes. Instead, they take on some of the smaller features of the environment. Research has found that microwaves in shared spaces or shared kitchens have different and slightly different bacteria than microwaves found in laboratories.

“Our results show that home microwaves have an ‘anthropized’ microbiome, similar to a kitchen environment, while laboratory microwaves harbor bacteria that are more resistant to radiation,” Torrent said.

Although lab microwaves have different microbiomes from their home counterparts, they were similar to those in solar panels. The researchers say that the conditions in both places, such as the presence of electromagnetic radiation and constant changes in temperature, mean that only hardy types of bacteria can survive.

If all of this is keeping you from nuking a frozen chicken pot pie for dinner, don’t worry. Torrent recommends giving your kitchen germ farm a regular cleaning with diluted bleach or a disinfectant spray, and cleaning up any dirt quickly to prevent bacterial growth.