Cleaning The After-Thanksgiving Oven, Naturally

Cleaning Your Oven, Safely and Naturally

After enjoying your wonderful feast with your guests, now its time for a little clean up. But think about this before reaching for that can of heavy duty oven cleaner or the self-clean button.

Did you know that most oven cleaners, whether its aerosol, powder or liquid, contain sodium hydroxide (lye)? Lye is extremely corrosive and can cause skin, eye and lung damage (in extreme cases can cause death). These cleaners can also contain 2-butoxethanol (causes reproductive problems and minor birth defects) and monoethanolamine (vapors can be irritating to the respiratory tract; may affect nervous and reproductive systems). These chemicals are also linked to asthma. The other danger of spraying these chemicals in the oven is that they can leach into food cooked in the oven too soon after cleaning.

Before thinking that you are safe using the self clean setting on the oven instead, read on. There are reports of serious human health reactions to the self clean process, most commonly irritation to the respiratory system but has caused more severe reactions and even deaths in some pets, such as birds. The self cleaning oven reaches more than 800 degrees and releases gases of acrylic aldehyde and formaldehyde, both being respiratory irritants and linked to cancer. If you really want to use this method, be sure to ventilate the house very well. The off-gassing can change your indoor air quality drastically!

For a more natural cleaning method, try this: just using a KitchenStone (pumice-like stone made from recycled materials) or a natural pumice stone will clean most stains in an oven. For more baked on messes, mix a paste of baking soda and lemon juice and then use the stone and wipe clean.

For more healthy cleaning tips, visit our Long Island Cleaning Service website.