drshi's Profile

STH and Charlotte are right: In fact, there is never any need to sanitize a kitchen sponge, once you understand the daily miracle known as "soap." One end of the soap molecule bonds with water, eliminating its surface tension so it can permeate the smallest spaces in anything being washed. The other end bonds with foreign particles containing germs. All you need add is some agitation to make sure the soap and water permeate what you're cleaning. The soap molecules then connect the germs to the water, preventing them from reattaching themselves to whatever you're washing, keeping them in suspension until they're drained away in the water. Thus, though regular soap doesn't kill germs, it pries them from whatever's being washed -- yourself included -- and holds onto them until they go down the drain.

So: You need never worry about all those germs in the sponge if you (1) always keep the sponge full of soap, and (2) always keep it wet. Thus, the soap will keep the germs connected to the water and not the sponge so they will go down the drain as soon as you wash anything. The only way such a sponge would pose any meaningful threat to your health would be for you to eat it.