When something spills in the kitchen, often a tea towel is the closest thing to hand, but mopping up spills can lead to some tricky stains. If you’ve used it to mop up spills or there’s visible food on it, throw it in the washing machine and get a replacement. If you do use the same one for hands and dishes, as well as mopping up spills, be extra vigilant about washing it frequently, to avoid a build up of bacteria. Similarly, if you wipe your wet hands on a dirty tea towel, you could be spreading harmful bacteria all over yourself. However, if you only use your kitchen to make a morning coffee and heat up an oven-ready meal in the evening, you might not use a tea towel much, so every 3 - 7 days will be sufficient.

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So, the easiest way to clean this muck away is to use a biological detergent that’s packed with enzymes. You shouldn’t leave wet tea towels hanging around because they’ll go smelly, bacteria may start setting up home in the fabric, and mould will start to thrive.And while it’s tempting to hide tea towels away by hanging them on a hidden hook inside a cupboard – this is also a no-no. And you can also add vinegar or bicarbonate of soda into the machine during the rinse cycle to remove any stinky smells from the tea towels.

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But if there’s no other option, use a biological detergent and add an antibacterial laundry sanitiser to your cycle as well.Generally, you should wash tea towels on their own, so you can prevent the cross-contamination of germs. Good Housekeeping participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. You'll receive support alerts if you ever need them, and a complimentary digital guide for selected products to get you started. Plus, they come into contact with a wide array of items and surfaces including your – not always clean – hands, as well as various food spills and areas that may already harbour bacteria.

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Don’t be afraid to clean your tea towels with a disinfectant cleaner/laundry sanitiser, like Dettol Antibacterial Laundry Cleanser. In a very busy family kitchen where all meals are prepared at home and the tea towel is in constant use, it’s best to throw that well-used tea towel into the wash every day. Soaking in a strain remover or laundry bleach (for white tea towels) before washing is also the best way to tackle older stains. In fact, the Food Standards Agency recommends cloths, tea towels, aprons and oven gloves are washed separately from other laundry. While in theory there’s no harm in washing a lightly used tea towel in with your bath towels, generally they’re best kept separate.So, it’s imperative that the tea towels are clean, otherwise when you wipe your plates, glasses and cutlery you’ll splatter them with microorganisms. Hearst UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 30 Panton Street, Leicester Square, London, SW1Y 4AJ. You really don’t want to start mixing up the germs found on your bath towels and kitchen tea towels, and vice versa.