Best way to sterilize a used meat grinder ???

[OffGridHermit]

As part of my survival preps and a way to save money now, I got a used meat grinder at the thrift store.

As I have no clue as to its history, does anybody have any suggestions how to sterilize it to eliminate the chance of bacteria?

I haven't seen this topic posted anywhere, and if anybody else buys a used one for their preps, it probably is a smart idea to insure its cleanliness before they use it.

[irishmike357]

I would imagine boiling the parts would do it. I could be wrong though.

[Yrch]

I would break it down into parts, scrub it down good to get any chunks that might be left kicking around and boil the **** out of it for an hour. It should be good to go after all that.

[megafatcat]

Clean well. Then soak in a bucket or sink with 2 tablespoons bleach per gallon hot water.
You should do this every time you use it anyway.

[ken k]

Take the blade off and scrub the whole thing with hot water then disinfectant it with bleach.

[swamppapa]

break it down , scrub in soapy water, bleach water soak, running water rinse, dry in the sunlight

[W.Lynn]

If you have a steam canner or pressure canner, you should be able to find instructions to use it as an autoclave. At pressurized-steam temperatures, it should do a pretty good job.

[SnakeRanch]

Except for the motor, I just clean off and run mine in the dishwasher after use.

[catmando]

take it apart let it soak in bleach water over night..
1 cap of vleach in 1 gallon water...
dry and re-assemble...
your good to go..

[Vanishing Nomad]

I am going to go with Napalm.

[Uncle Bob]

Any rust????

[ditch]

Will there be more rust after a long bleach soaking?
The bleach will accelerate the rusting progress.

Scrub in soapy water, boil, scrub in soapy water, rinse, sanitize in hot bleach water, and air dry.

[lean]

not sure about the bleach.......scrub it down with a brush, hot soapy water, and let it sit in the sun to really dry....

[OffGridHermit]

It's an old one, and has a small amount of rust, but appears usable.

I boiled it in bleach water, scrubbed it with a scrubbing pad and hot soapy dish water, so will see if I get sick after I make ground beef tomorrow.

[FarmerChad]

I second the bleach. I use mine frequently to make pork sausage, and we all know how fickle pork can be. Haven't gotten sick yet, knock on wood.

[Adapter]

Originally Posted by ditch

Will there be more rust after a long bleach soaking?
The bleach will accelerate the rusting progress.

Scrub in soapy water, boil, scrub in soapy water, rinse, sanitize in hot bleach water, and air dry.

Yes. Bleach is HIGHLY corrosive. More so than salt.

I see one option; the boiling/autoclave method. After scrubbing off old junk of course.

If ground meats are thoroughly cooked or canned, there's another margin of safety.

My own meat which I buy from the store is suspect until cooked. I have no idea how it was handled before I got it.

[charliemeyer007]

So if it's an old cast iron one that has been tinned, you could use a dremel tool and polish off the rust areas and re tin those spots. Real block tin; no: lead, cadmium etc.

[A-Team]

Type "vinegar disinfectant" into Google for a very interesting read.

Disinfecting food surfaces is very different than sterilizing other things because in the end despite rinsing... You may be ingesting some amount of the disinfectant.

Plain old vinegar combined with hydrogen peroxide appear to be pretty interesting as an alternative to bleach.

Embarrassing as it is to say... I first got this from reading a "Hints from Heloise" column. She commissioned a lab comparison of vinegar versus bleach for cleaning cutting boards...and vinegar came out pretty comparable. Later studies found adding hydrogen peroxide greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the vinegar.