Do you wash your can opener?

Manual. I rinse it with hot water and a little dish soap after every use.

Manual, and funny you should ask—I just started cleaning it on a regular basis because it finally dawned on me that every time i open a can I’m leaving spoilable food residue on the blade. Currently I’m using scalding hot water but I think I’ll start using liquid soap too and/or the dishwasher.

I don’t even remember when I last washed it. Byt then again we don’t use it so often. It is only used for milk cans, and we don’t use canned milk much these days.

Only if anything gets on it while opening the can, which is exceedingly rare. We have a manual one. Soap and water. Air dry.

Sometimes I throw it into the dishwasher, mostly not. I don’t get food poisoning, so I don’t worry.

I just swish it around in soapy water (which I almost always have standing in the kitchen sink) and rinse.
I cleaned my electric can opener much more carefully.

@Mariah Why would you say getting anything on it would be exceedingly rare? It’s almost guaranteed to get food from the can on it.

Mine doesn’t. If you don’t tip the can, only the wheel part is going “in” to the can at all, and usually not far enough down to touch the food within. I almost never get any food on my can opener.

Our can opener is called Theresa & she’s perfectly capable of washing herself, showers twice a day I hear

Manual, and I rinse it under the tap after each use.

Well, it may seem like you don’t @Mariah, but you do. It may not be much, and I, for one, don’t usually worry about it (unless I’m opening a tin of oysters or other meat in which case I just rinse it) but you do get traces of food on it.

Can’t see anything, but whatevs!

Manual. Yes, a quick sink wash, not in the dishwasher.

Well, it gets on the blade, but then the blade scrapes through the can lid as the opener goes around. That takes most of it off again.

Manual, and it is washed and dried after every use.

Manual, and I hand wash it in hot, soapy water after each use. Otherwise, food residue might quickly turn to bacteria-laden funk.

Manual and there are 3 of them. The way it works here is that upon being used, the thing is regarded as any other “dirty” utensil, tossed into the dish pan of hot soapy water. The business end gets a going over with a fingernail brush dedicated to such purposes. Funny though. This question brings to mind that I can’t remember using a can opener myself since Thanksgiving, though one will appear now and then drying in the dish rack. The wife gets these wonderful spurts where she builds these batches of fantastic soups to freeze in portion sizes. The soups involve cans of broths and chicken stocks. And there are those cans of tuna in the pantry. But come to think of it, we have a paltry few cans in the larder compared to the hoard of tin floating around my kitchen and pantry as a kid. I can remember when a shopping trip involved several double bagged sacks of groceries with the bottoms layered solid with tin cans.

Mine goes in the sink with the rest of the dishes for a quick wipe-down with hot water and soap. If it does get some build-up on it, I keep a toothbrush by the sink for just that purpose.

I put ours , a manual of course, in the dishwasher occasionally on air dry. It’s a nice one; doesn’t break your fingers when using it.

Yes. I wash it every time I use it.

I have a hand held one, which I swipe with a soapy brush and rinse after every use. I also wash the top and edge of every can before I open it.

I have a manual can opener that’s bolted to the wall so I can really only wipe it down, not wash it. If it were one that was loose I would probably throw it it the dishwasher when I was in the mood or if it was groaty.

Yeah, I don’t obsess over mine, either. If I open up a can of water packed veggies, or syrup packed fruits I pay run a token rinse over it. Or not. I might just throw it back in the drawer.

I have a manual one that I wash after every use like any other dish. It never even occurred to me that someone wouldn’t wash it after using it.

Of course. Manual.

Yes, every time I use it. Manual. I hate electric can openers, PITA.

Well..we are quite the hygienic bunch here aren’t we? haha

^^^ We’re the Anti-Schmutz Brigade!

It’s never occurred to me to wash a can opener.
To my knowledge, our Daisy wall mount can opener was never washed when I was a kid. Black crud would periodically peel off the blade when I opened a can.

As a matter of fact, that’s what prompted this question.
I opened a tin of smoked mussels – rectangular – and black crap came off the blade of my manual can opener. After I finished eating the mussels on saltines (we found the mussels in an old picnic basket and they were chalky, making me afraid they were bad) I asked this Q.

In my defense, I recall washing a can opener in the past and seeing rust on the cutting wheel. That scared me worse than the crud. I have this childish (as in child like or formed in my childhood) notion that rust will give me tetanus.

Not really.

I use a Good Cook safe-cut can opener.

Instead of cutting through the lid, it pries under the lid’s outer lip, so it almost never touches the can’s contents.

On a rare occasion, there will be a small deposit of liquid below the pressure wheel.
All I do is wipe it off with a paper towel that’s slightly moistened with vinegar & water, and then wipe it dry.

Well, @ibstubro. Your comment sent me off on a tetanus hunt because I always thought tetanus was caused by getting a puncture from rusty metal, too. I found this interesting. Guess I’ve always been up to date on my shots, or just damn lucky I’ve never gotten it.

“Tetanus is caused by the tetanus bacterium Clostridium tetani.[20] Tetanus is often associated with rust, especially rusty nails. Objects that accumulate rust are often found outdoors, or in places that harbour anaerobic bacteria, but the rust itself does not cause tetanus nor does it contain more C. tetani bacteria. The rough surface of rusty metal merely provides a prime habitat for C. tetani endospores to reside in (due to its high surface area), and the nail affords a means to puncture skin and deliver endospores deep within the body at the site of the wound.[21]”

I don’t really wash it – don’t want it sitting in water. I rinse it and wipe it off quickly after use. As usual, vinegar often comes into play as the rinse.

@ibstubro Our family home had that wall-mounted can opener as well. It also came with a juicer that could be exchanged out. There are fond memories of Dad going through dozens of oranges to provide his large brood with fresh OJ on Christmas morning.

As a treat, we got to use the ice crusher @Pied_Pfeffer. It would probably pull modern cabinets off of modern walls – brute force ice crushing. We also had a knife sharpener, but I don’t know if there was a juicer or not.
That bracket is the thing you have to watch for if you want to replicate a Daisy. The parts are fairly common, but the brackets got left on the wall. I’ve resisted the urge to install one in my current house. The ice crusher is cool enough to leave up all the time.

I just let the water run until scalding hot and then rinse it under that. I figure that removes whatever the bacteria can grow in.

Obviously it’s a manual.

That just gave me an idea, @ibstubro…..I could use my trash compactor to crush ice! But now I have to come up with a reason to crush ice…

I use THIS type because it does not make sharp edges, does not drop shards of steel inside the can, and does not expose the food until I choose to expose the food. The lid remains on the can as a cover, rather than falling inside.

You worry about “the dirtiest inch in your kitchen” and never even think of the cut metal that falls into the food.

BTW HERE are the electric models, but I have not tried them.

I just bought a Zyliss EasiCan Can Opener at a yard sale for 25¢. I’m not sure if it’s washable, or if washing is even required. It’s been used, and there’s no sign of residue.

That is the type that pierces the steel of the lid, dropping shards of metal into the food, leaving a sharp edge on the lid and another sharp edge around the inside of the can. The cutter (the wheel with no teeth) collects food randomly.

I have one of those @ibstubro. It’s pretty cool, but we don’t use it much because it seems like the batteries die really quickly. However, I like the way it opens the can without leaving wicked sharp edges.
It’s nice to have in a pinch, like if the manual can opener managed to mangle the can in such a way that it can’t be opened.

I’ve tried the side-cutter ones. Can’t drain a can of tuna with them properly. Pain in the neck. I’ll risk the metal shavings – which haven’t killed me in 30 years so far.

…That you KNOW of….

::pokes self::

Yep, still here.

..Poking yourself is a sin you know .

Eh, in for a penny, in for a pound.

No, @SmartAZ.
It’s the type that removes the top of the can.
Preventing “dropping shards of metal into the food, leaving a sharp edge on the lid and another sharp edge around the inside of the can. The cutter (the wheel with no teeth) collects food randomly.”

Yeah, the one @ibstubro got runs around the side of the can under the lip. It removes the whole top and it doesn’t leave sharp edges. Pretty slick. And I imagine all can openers leave microscopic slivers of metal behind. Doesn’t hurt anything.

However, I did see a “Life in the ER” episode where a guy got super, super, super sick and it took them forever to find out what the problem was. They finally traced it back to a bar b que he had attended. The host had cleaned the grill with a grill brush that used metal thingys for the brush. One of those thingys wound up in the sick guy’s hamburger and he ingested it. It punctured his intestine.

So, what’s the moral to that story, @Dutchess_III??
:-)

Just comparing metal to metal, @ibstubro! The flakes won’t hurt a thing. Sharp, knify bristles will! So will scissors, if you swallow them. And butcher knives. Don’t swallow butcher knives.

Well, that ruins my lunch plans, @Dutchess_III.
Guess I’ll have to settle for some broken bottle bites.