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Are Gloves a Good or Bad Sign of Good Personal Hygiene and Food Poisoning Prevention in a Restaurant? Gloves and Handwashing Requirements in a Restaurant, Deli, Cafeteria, Meat Market and More!
The truest answer to this question is both yes and no. This quick answer doesn’t help but please read further to see why this is the case and when gloves are actually required and when they are not.
The Good Side of Gloves If used correctly (how this is done is described below), gloves on food handlers can definitely help to curb the contamination of food by the hands and thereby potentially minimize the risk or chances of contracting a food poisoning bug. Hands or skin are a common reservoir or source for some of the most common food poisoning pathogens or microorganisms, as well as the cold and flu viruses. Gloves can act as a barrier for these microorganisms, stopping them from getting into your food. Gloves also are mandatory in certain cases, such as when the food handler has a sore, cut, or rash on their hands or fingers. Gloves also can help to keep other forms of contamination from your food, such as foreign objects and debris, including dirt, debris from under the nails, artificial nails, rings and more.
The Bad Side of Gloves The bad side comes up when gloves are not used correctly or are used as a replacement for handwashing. Gloves can become contaminated just as easily as bare hands. The problem lies with the fact that with bare hands the food handler can feel the liquids or splash of contaminated fluids on their hands and will more likely make an effort to wash their hands before going on to another task. A gloved hand will not have this same sensation and may well give the user a false sense of security. Gloves can not be used as a replacement or substitute for washing hands, though they often are. As a food inspector, when I came across a facility using gloves, I would pay extra attention to the way in which that food handler, cook, or chef used and replaced those gloves, including how frequently they were changed and when the food handlers would wash their hands.
When Gloves are Required
As already noted, gloves are required and
“shall be worn when contacting food and food-contact surfaces if the employee has any cuts,
sores, rashes, artificial nails, nail polish, rings (other than a plain ring, such as a wedding band),
uncleanable orthopedic support devices, or fingernails that are not clean, smooth, or neatly trimmed.”
The health and safety codes and best practices also state that
“Food employees shall minimize bare hand and arm contact with nonprepackaged
food that is in a ready-to-eat form.”
This means any food that is already cooked or prepared and is ready to serve to the customer
should have little or no contact with bare hands. Utensils, including scoops, forks, tongs,
paper wrappers, gloves, or other implements should be used to assemble
ready-to-eat food or to place ready-to-eat food on tableware or in other containers.
If gloves are worn they must be changed, replaced, or washed as often as
handwashing is required.
To see how often or when a food handler must wash their hands, click on the link to take you to my article on
handwashing
When Gloves are Not Required Although best practices call for a food handler to use a utensil or gloved hand whenever possible, they can still use bare hands on any food product as long as they:
From my own personal experience, if the food handlers are using gloves and it looks like they are changing them frequently, take this as a good sign of an establishment that is educated on good food sanitation practices and is making an effort to protect their customers.
REFERENCES: 1. California Retail Food Code effective July 1, 2007 Sections 113961, and 113973 About the AuthorMichael Doom worked as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) for Los Angeles County for more than 21 years. For most of these years he worked as a field inspector and Supervising Senior REHS in the retail food inspection programs. His experience within Los Angeles County has taken him to some of the smallest “mom and pop” restaurants and markets in the poorest areas of south Los Angeles, as well as to the largest facilities and affluent areas on the west side. He has literally conducted thousands of inspections of numerous types of restaurants, food markets, warehouses, events, and more; educated hundreds, if not more than a thousand, food facility owners, managers and employees on food sanitation and food safety, and how to prevent food poisoning hazards; has supervised more than 50 field inspectors that were responsible for an inventory of food facilities larger than many U.S. states. Mr. Doom has a B.S. in Biology from Loyola Marymount University, an REHS with the state of California, holds a Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential from the Project Management Institute, and a Masters Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. Mr. Doom continuously works to expand his knowledge and experience in the subject of food safety, sanitation and food poisoning prevention. He can be reached at Mike@foodpoisoningprevention.com |