Why it's time to ditch the plastic chopping board

For hundreds of years, cooks have prepared food on wooden chopping boards.

At Blade & Butler, we think there are two very good reasons to continue doing so: your knives and potentially your

health.

Every time a knife cuts across a plastic chopping board, it scores the surface. Research published in

Environmental Science & Technology found that plastic chopping boards can release microscopic plastic

particles during normal chopping and estimated that exposure could potentially run into millions of

particles per person each year.

Those particles don't simply disappear. Scientists are now detecting microplastics in numerous human

tissues and organs. Research is investigating their potential links with oxidative stress, inflammation,

immune responses and cellular damage, although exactly what this means for long-term human health

—including cancer risk, is still being established.

One particularly significant human study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found micro-

and nanoplastics within carotid artery plaques. Their presence was associated with increased

subsequent cardiovascular events, although the observational study does not prove the plastics caused

those events.

Wood Is Better for Your Knife Too

There is another, much simpler reason to choose wood.

A good wooden chopping board provides a comparatively forgiving surface for your knife's delicate

cutting edge. Harder cutting surfaces can accelerate edge wear, meaning your knives require

sharpening more frequently.

Wooden boards have served kitchens successfully for centuries and, when appropriately cleaned,

washed and allowed to dry properly, can provide an excellent everyday food-preparation surface.

So why continually run your knife across plastic, gradually damaging both the board and potentially

releasing microscopic plastic fragments into the food you're preparing?

Our advice is - choose a good-quality wooden chopping board. Look after it, keep it clean and let your knife cut

food, not plastic.