How roaches contaminate your kitchen
Cockroaches can contaminate food and surfaces and spread bacteria. Because they travel through drains, garbage, and filth before reaching your kitchen, they can carry germs onto whatever they touch.
Roaches can leave bacteria on counters, dishes, utensils, and stored food, which is why an infestation raises real sanitation concerns. Any food that roaches have gotten into should be thrown out, and surfaces they have crossed should be cleaned thoroughly. Sealing food in hard containers helps limit contamination while the infestation is being treated.
Not every exposure makes someone ill, but the contamination risk is one of the main reasons a serious infestation is treated as a health and habitability problem rather than just an unpleasant one. If roaches are getting into your food because of an infestation your landlord will not properly treat, keep records of what you had to discard — and a free review can help you understand your rights.
This is general information about California tenant rights, not legal advice. Every situation is different.