My mother-in-law showed me how she takes care of this problem. She dilutes bleach and uses a dish brush or brush with a long handle to clean the cavity and UP UNDER the rubber seal. I couldn't believe the gunk she got out of mine, and the smell was gone after that. You wouldn't want to do that very often, but I've done it twice now, and I haven't had any problem with the gasket. Good luck!

They make a product that is suppose to be used for this problem. But you might just try a big picture of ice and an old lemon.

Also make sure the smell is not coming from an adjoining cabinet. Old potatoes are notorious for the smell they can emit.

That's a pitcher NOT a picture! HA!

I guess that means I'll be sticking my hand down in there again. I'd rather clean the insides of a Thanksgiving turkey.

Diluted bleach, up and under the gasket.

Housefairy, what do I do with the picture of ice and the lemon? Grind it up? Rub it on something?

No worry about adjacent cabinets. I have no food. Remember? I barely cook and if I do, it's boiling noodles. :)

Christine

Fill the disposal with the ice and lemons, then turn on the disposal with the water running. The idea is the ice and lemons will scrape the sides, as it is being ground up, and help remove the gunk.

There are also commercial made garbage disposal cleaners that might be worth trying. The Plink brand looks like it sells for about five dollars for ten treatments. You probably can pick up some variation at your local grocery or hardware store .

I think I'll try the home remedies first before I go invest in chemicals.

I appreciate the advice! Thank you. :)

First, you ought to pull off the black gasket that sits in the sink drain. I usually find mine is coated with gunk on the disposal side of it and SMELLS. Then check the inside of the disposal using a flashlight to see if something is still sitting in there and not grinding up, such as a wad of gristle. Now put the gasket back after you fill the whole cavity entirely with ice and if you have lemons, you can add them. Grind them up with the cold water running; the ice will scrub the sides of the disposal. You should use cold water only when you grind garbage as hot water softens or melts garbage scraps and they don't grind as well. If it still smells, then use Plink to clean it. I buy it at Bed, Bath and Beyond or the hardware store.

Keeping the underside of that gasket clean on a regular basis will go a long way to keeping the odors away. It certainly wouldn't hurt to scrub the inside of the disposal with a long handled brush loaded with some kind of cleaner as others have described here, but I have never had to do that as the above methods take care of it.