Expensive kitchenware hits British markets

The newest items on bridal gift registries in Britain are diamond encrusted cutlery sets and pots ranging from $200,000 to $400,000. Two retailers, Selfridges and Harrods, are tapping into the newly discovered high-end market -- Selfridges with a diamond-encrusted cutlery set priced at $411,872.58 and Harrods with a "show-stopping" gold and diamond-studded cooking pan costing $205,924.29, The Scotsman reported Monday.

Harrods department store said their pot, which contains 200 diamonds of various sizes, is "probably the most precious pot in the world." Selfridges' 144-piece solid-silver cutlery set was made with 4,000 diamonds weighing 74 carats and is made-to-order. "This wonderful cutlery set is catering to customers who have a passion for craftsmanship of the highest order where money is no object," said Kit Li-Perry, the head of Selfridges' home department. "We know this is exactly what some of our customers want from Selfridges and we are delighted to be able to satisfy their expectations."
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Kitchenware retained as Natural World goes into administration

Handling of the Rachel Allen kitchenware and textiles collection is being transferred to a new division of the Lambert Howarth Group after it put its Natural World business into administration last month.The group had been trying to find a buyer for Natural World but appointed Manchester-based administrator BDO Stoy Hayward after concluding that it could no longer support the business's trading losses.

Lambert Howarth says its brand development team is being extended to support its new, London-based Lifestyle division, which will be retaining some elements of the LHG homewares business. The Lifestyle team will continue to look after the Rachel Allen licensed products, which will be available throughout the UK and Ireland from the end of September. Natural World showed the Rachel Allen collection at June's Exclusively Housewares exhibition. The TV chef's products include oven-to-tableware, ceramics, chopping boards, utensils and textiles such as aprons and placemats.
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The point of knives

Most fatal stabbings involve a weapon that is easy to obtain and sharp with it - a kitchen knife. Would stopping the sale of long blades with sharp points help save lives? What would reduce the number of fatal stabbings? England and Wales' Chief Inspector of Probation Andrew Bridges has warned against "spectacular innovations" and wants the debate to focus on "mundane truths".

One idea, first proposed in 2005, is a response to a grisly mundane truth expressed by Met chief Ian Blair this week - that "the most common knife involved in these deaths is a knife from a kitchen". The proposal came from three emergency medicine specialists, and it's a simple one: getting rid of the points on the ends of longer kitchen knives. Drs Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook and Mike Beckett wrote an editorial in the British Medical Journal, suggesting that since "many assaults are impulsive", government action could "drastically reduce the availability" of a "potentially lethal weapon". So what would the effect have been if, in 2003, the government had persuaded knife manufacturers to offer a greater range of styles, with the pointed-end, long-blade design no longer the default?
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Why your kitchen sink might be dirtier than your loo

A new study from a group of environmental scientists suggests the average family kitchen can contain more harmful germs than the bathroom, according to the news agency Associated Press.The scientists, working on behalf of a cleaning products manufacturer, took samples from 20 family homes in seven regions including the UK - and their findings were alarming. Internationally, 90 per cent of kitchen cloths, 46 per cent of kitchen sinks, 38 per cent of bathroom sinks and 14 per cent of children’s toys had a total bacteria count of more than 100,000 per square centimetre.Professor John Oxford, a virologist at St Bartholemew’s and the Royal London Hospital, led the study. He is also chairman of the UK’s Hygiene Council - read its recommendations here.

He warned that families put great effort into cleaning toilets but not nearly as much time into keeping their kitchens clean: “You could eat your dinner in a US toilet but there is a lack of appreciation that kitchen sinks can be contaminated with faecal organisms, either coming in with fruit and vegetables or from pets and children.”The moral of this tale? Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly. Disinfect high-risk areas. Dispense with all your horrible old cleaning cloths and replace them, as this is where many of the nasties live.
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Chopping board health slur ad banned

A television advertisement claiming that chopping boards hold 50 times more bacteria than toilet seats has been banned. Announcing its adjudication today, the Advertising Standards Authority said that Reckitt Benckiser's ad for Dettol Surface Cleanser "misleadingly exaggerated the dangers posed by the bacteria on chopping boards".The ad showed pieces of fruit and a knife on a toilet seat and was accompanied by a voice-over saying: "Fact: your chopping board harbours 50 times more bacteria than your toilet seat. But Dettol Surface Cleanser kills 99.9% of bacteria, including MRSA, E Coli, salmonella and even the flu virus."

However, the ASA criticized the 2004 study for being carried out on only five households, and was "not convinced that the hygiene conditions of the houses were representative of those in most households".It also said it was common knowledge that raw meat could contaminate a surface with bacteria and that it would need to be cleaned before being used again. The authority also thought the ad implied that MRSA, E Coli, salmonella and flu would be present on most chopping boards after cleaning.The ASA concluded that RB had failed to show that bacteria that posed a health risk had been found on most chopping boards after they had been cleaned normally.The ad cannot now be broadcast again in its original format.