The trend of food served on wooden boards can divide opinion across the table, but should diners be worried about them being unhealthy?

Recently a restaurant in Birmingham, England, was heavily fined after ignoring advice from health inspectors regarding the cleanliness of their serving boards.

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So, what are the health and safety rules regarding their use in Australia?

Gary Kennedy is a food and safety auditor who has managed a food consultancy business in Sydney for 15 years.

"There's a perception of some people that wood is illegal in a food business, well that's just not true," he said.

Wood for food service, nothing new

While Mr Kennedy said there were no specific NSW laws regarding the use of wood in food service, he said it came under the same scrutiny as any other material used in the industry.

"What the rules say is that it must be washable and impervious and it must not contaminate the food," he said.

"Things like coffee stirrers, toothpicks, bamboo steamers — they all legally have to be showing that nothing comes out of the wood that contaminates.

Natural materials, like in this bamboo steamer, are regularly used for serving food. ( Flickr: Avlxyz )

"Pesticide residues, wood treatments and varnishes, all of that still has to be food-grade and if it does in any way get out and get into the food, it's got to be shown to meet the legal limits in the food standards code."

He noted that wooden serving boards were usually oiled, giving them some water resistance.

"Of course, if you repeatedly cut it with a knife you're going to cut through that coating which is one of the problems."

Mr Kennedy recalled visiting local restaurants during his childhood where he regularly saw food served on wooden boards and said the current trend was nothing new.

"Roast meats have always traditionally been served on wooden chopping boards," he said.

"Provided they're maintained and cleaned properly, there's no problem with them."

Use dedicated chopping boards for preparing food like raw meats and others for specifically serving cooked food. ( Pexels: Lukas )

He stressed, however, the importance of avoiding cross-contamination and advised using separate boards for preparation, especially when handling raw meat, and using others solely for serving cooked food.

Keeping things clean

Mr Kennedy said some overseas studies had shown wooden chopping boards could hold anti-bacterial properties.

University of California research into wooden cutting boards found them to potentially be safer to use than plastic ones.

However, Mr Kennedy said proper cleaning and maintenance of serving boards greatly contributed to food safety.

"If there's a crack in it, it's no good because you can't clean in a big crack. If it's got splinters, don't eat [the food]," he advised.

"The board should be roughly the same colour. If you can see bits that look dirty there's a problem with it."

As for cleaning your wooden boards at home, Mr Kennedy gave some simple tips.

"Putting it through hot water, like a dishwasher, kills all the bugs and most of the commercial sanitisers that you use in a dishwasher, they'll kill everything as well.