Dish Towel for Both Meat and Milk

Is it ok to use the same microfiber towel cloth to wipe down my meat counter and dairy counter? Meaning without washing it in between. When my cleaner is here, she uses the same cloth for both meat and dairy surfaces

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

It is the custom not to use the same towel for both meat and dairy unless they are laundered in between.

There is a similar case in the Shulchan Aruch where it is written that one should not place or eat dairy directly from a tablecloth on which one had used likewise for meat. Nowadays, however, this is less of a concern as we use plates and we do not place food directly on the tablecloth. It would suffice to turn over the tablecloth when eating food of the opposite type. (I.e. the ‘front’ side of the tablecloth can be designated for diary and the ‘back’ side of the tablecloth can be designated for meat.). Even in this instance, though, separate tablecloths are to be preferred.

In your case of the dishtowels. When wiping up food reside there will always be food residue remaining in the towel until it is properly laundered. As such, when using a dishtowel for both meat and milk, one actively combines milk and meat residue which essentially means that one is always wiping surfaces with a milk-and-meat (i.e. non-kosher) towel. This is something that we want to avoid even though it may not be outright forbidden.

As I mentioned it is the custom to have two separate cloths.  I recommended to “color code” your towels which will better help your cleaner distinguish which towel should be used for cleaning meat and which for cleaning dairy.

Source: YD 89:4; Pitchei Teshuva, YD 89:8; Bach, OC 173:5.