If you aren't using it for meat, your description is more than enough. I have a cutting board that has never seen the sink in several years. I scrape it with a wet scouring pad that is dedicated for this purpose. Spray it with a vinegar/water mix and repeat the scouring. I only use soap when I cut some vegetables that stain the board, typically beets and red bell peppers. According to a study that "Cooks Illustrated" did, a 3:1 water to vinegar mix was more effective at getting bacteria off produce than soap.

Here is a good link about care and maintenance of a BB. We also have a BB which is too large to move and this seems to be working well. The only modification is that I use a Beeswax/Mineral Oil butcher block conditioner from this eBay seller every few weeks to keep it nice.

You can make your own beeswax and mineral oil mix yourself. I believe it is 50-50. I use it on my board and even give my wooden spoons a going over.

Why not get a lightweight, DW safe plastic for raw meat?

To me, it just makes sense to have separate boards for different types of food. In the end, it makes life simpler.

Etznab, thanks. I had been using straight white vinegar. I didn't know a 3:1 solution of water to vinegar would work, too.

jaymielo, thanks for the link. I had intended to buy that mineral oil/beeswax product but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's now on the to-do list.

Cooperbailey, I'm all for making the mix myself, but a local search for beeswax where I live turned up NADA. If I have to buy it on-line and pay shipping, maybe it's just as easy to buy a finished product.

Oruboris, I do have a 1/2-inch thick white poly cutting board that I use for meat/poultry/fish. I wash it in the DW and occasionally bleach it in the sink. I intend to keep on with this practice, but I am looking for new poly boards in different colors for each of these three categories.

Thanks, everyone, for convincing me that I'm not on the road to poisoning my near and dear.

I do the Martha Stewart salt-lemon scrub: sprinkle lberally with salt and use a half a lemon to scour it. The acid from the lemon does the same thing as the vinegar, but I prefer the lemon smell to the vinegar smell. We've got a prolific lemon tree in the back yard, so this method's a bit more economical for us than the average person.

Thanks, alku05, for another way to sanitize my BB cutting board. We have a lemon tree, too, but it's one of DH's citrus "children", so he'd have major heart failure if I used the lemons for anything other than eating and cooking.

I don't mind the vinegar smell, so I can just add salt to the treatment.

Questions:

Kosher salt or table salt? Or does it matter?

Does the roughness of the salt ever chew up the wood surface of the cutting board?

A good place to find beeswax at the retail level would be a craft store. Do you have a Michael's or AC Moore near you? Both of them sell beeswax ... just make sure you get the plain one with no scents or other additives. They sell both chips and solid one pound blocks. I paid about $5 for the one pound block after the 40% coupon that is usually in the Sunday paper.

Etznab--Thanks! Yes, a Michael's opened this year about 12 miles from us in the same shopping center as a BedBath&Beyond--whee, a twofer!

Could you tell me how you use it on your BB cutting board?