Q. I have a ceramic crock pot. It’s pretty disgusting right now and I don’t feel comfortable slow cooking food along with whatever germs are living on the pot. Can I use bleach to clean the crock?

A. I'm not really clear about your "problem.” The ceramic crock pot is meant to be easy to clean. So by soaking in a warm soapy solution, this should loosen any residual material which can be easily scrubbed off before the next use.

The ceramic surface is a hard, non-porous surface so it should be safe to use a sanitizing liquid bleach solution to rinse or quick soak the surface AFTER it has been cleaned. To proceed, after thoroughly cleaning the crock pot, prepare a sanitizing solution of 1 teaspoon Clorox® Regular-Bleach in a gallon of water. Fill the crock pot with the bleach solution and allow it to sit for 2-3 minutes; then discard the solution, rinse and air-dry.

Hope this helps you continue to enjoy your crock pot and let me know if you have any further questions.