Good God.

You might think it's something from the bathroom or maybe your grubby front door mat, but no. New research has shown that your kitchen sponge is actually the germiest thing in your house. It turns out that the humble yellow sponge you use to clean your dishes or wipe down your counter-tops is riddled with bacteria. A new study has revealed that their porous, moist (sorry) nature makes them the perfect breeding ground for microbes, reports Metro. Researchers in Germany analysed a number of kitchen sponges from normal family homes. They found that the sponges contained microbes known as Zammaproteobacteria, a class of bacteria that includes pathogens that can lead to food poisoning or cholera. Nice.

"Despite common misconception, it was demonstrated that kitchen environments host more microbes than toilets," the researchers wrote.

"This was mainly due to the contribution of kitchen sponges, which were proven to represent the biggest reservoirs of active bacteria in the whole house."

Not only are kitchen sponges home to lots of nasties, but are also a culprit for spreading bacteria and "can lead to cross-contamination of hands and food, which is considered a main cause if food-borne disease outbreaks." Worse again, it doesn't matter often you clean your sponge. "Our data showed that regularly sanitized sponges (as indicated by their users) did not contain less bacteria than uncleaned ones," added the researchers. As for the best thing you can do to avoid spreading disease in your kitchen via sponges? Replace them often - the researchers recommended doing this at least weekly.