How to make your butter board less of a germ fest

Catch up quick: Butter board makers slather high-quality butter or soft cheese onto a wooden cutting board and then load it up with fruits, vegetables, edible flowers, spices and condiments.

• The idea was introduced by Joshua McFadden in his 2017 James Beard-winning cookbook Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables but only recently went viral.

Yes, but: Sharing food communally concerns some, and Forbes Magazine went so far as to call it "kinda gross."

What they're saying: "Any time numerous people are using bare hands to eat from a shared dish (chips and dips, charcuterie board, etc.), you can increase the risk of spreading germs," said Kate Cole, spokesperson for Public Health – Seattle & King County. It's best, she said, to avoid bare hands touching the spread.

• Instead, have people use a utensil to scoop the concoction onto individual plates or their carb of choice.
• Darin Detwiler, an assistant teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern University and an expert on food industry regulation, told the Associated Press he sees a lot of potential pathogens in the cracks of wooden butter boards.

• "Personally, I would use a plastic board, something that can be sanitized in a dishwasher," he said.
• He also recommended making many tiny butter boards instead of one big one.

Be smart: The state Department of Health recommends these food safety principles common to all food preparation and consumption.

The bottom line: Think about the potential for unwashed hands and not just the beautiful display.