Gloves for Food Service - False Security?? (a minor rant..)

[phatch]

Sweet Pea, maybe it was a towel loaded with bleach?

[panini]

I think we have become accustomed to write off the symptoms of injesting food with harmful bacteria as something that's associated with eating.
I find it awkward when someone who has spent time in the closet room and then bolsters about how that was wierd! Then remarks on how good that meal was last night. As Lewis Black would say Wa,Wa,Wa,Wa,WHAT????
Shel, thanks for the lead. I will look into those gloves. I had a feeling I would have to go outside the food purveyors to get something good. Just another case of adding a new vendor, to get something of quality.
pan

[sweet pea]

phatch - If only that were the case. But alas, no.

[KCZ]

Originally Posted by even stephen

Restaurants and food service establishments have now passed medical facilities in the use of latex gloves.

I work in the medical field, where there has been a HUGE move in recent years to eliminate latex gloves and all other latex-containing products, due to life-threatening latex allergies in an increasing segment of the population.

Am I hearing that latex gloves are commonly used in food preparation? I would think that this would be a significant liability concern for restaurants, much more so than the obscure eggplant allergies that were recently discussed in another thread.

[HotChef]

it does not help if the cutting board is dirty, full of cracks or first you cut chicken, than fish without changing the boardand knife.
what about the PRODUCTS themselves that you are working with? mayo, cream...
doesn't help much iff you wear gloves and next to your station is an open overflowing trash can.
how about storage of fooditems in the cooler / refridgerator/ any chance of cross contamination there already BEFORE you even touch the products.
Her in russia there is no law about one - way / latex gloves, it is nice to see people wearing them.
it definitely helps if you handle beets, peel potatoes or onions. but that is maybe more for the protection of your hands.
on the other hand an untreated nick or cut can harbor also germs or worse stuff...
by the way, it interests me personally: how often do you (foodhandlers. service staff) have to go for a sanitaion check up?
here in moscow we have to go for aids, tb, all other STD's and a few more things. basically the good doctor is poking and checking every orifice if all is ok.. every six month to one year, depending what it is.THAT i think is also very important, that you have healthy employees who are not caughing over the sandwich while working with gloves....
than you get a nice little booklet with all the stamps inside.
and god help you if the inspector finds out that you 'bought' the stamps and did not realy go to the medical checkup.

[Dinengurth]

Use nitrile gloves. We use them at work, and they are infinitely better than latex. They have very good tensile strength. The only thing latex gloves are good for is rolling boudin balls , absolutely worthless when it comes to handling and cutting meat. The only time we use gloves at school is for ready-to-eat foods, but people are constantly reminded about sanitation procedures to instill proper discipline.

[Eeyore]

I dont use them except when working with food coloring, sometimes chocolate, and when I have a wound on my hand.

I hate them. They take the fun out of working with food and I believe they hinder good sanitation practices.

I believe that workers who wear gloves wash hands much less frequently than those who don't.

With the generally hectic pace of the professional kitchen I do not think it is in the interest of public safety to make hand washing more of a hassle.....which is what gloves do.

Gloves are contaminated just as easily as hands. Yet you cannot wash gloves.

As far as health check ups. Generally in the US the rule is: You are not allowed to be in the kitchen if you have: a fever, diarhea, vomiting, soar throat, jaundice.

The only diagnoses that would prevent you from working with food would be salmonella and hepatitis A. (obviously anyone with E-coli shouldn't be handling food, but that wouldn't generally happen anyway)

As far as STDs I dont know of any restrictions. Those with HIV/AIDS are not restricted. And in the US HIV status is considered confidential.

eeyore

[Jayme]

I, personally, wash my hands constantly. The only time I like to see, or use gloves is when I have a wound (even bandaged) on my hand- for both my and consumer's safety- no wound/food contamination. I also have set up at home and at my school, a spray bottle of bleach by the sink for meat cutting boards. And I change cutting boards as needed. I also try to use tongs, spatulas, etc. for serving- most people don't have a problem with someone handling their raw food, but seem to have a problem with the cooked.
Sweet pea- you have erased all guilt that I have for the bizzillion towels I go through.(ok slight exaggeration, but...) The chef teases me because I am constantly grabbing a new towel. I would have been grossed out also!

Even Stephen- You mean we HAD lives before cell phones??? LOL don't tell the teenagers that......

[Blade55440]

Originally Posted by KCZ

I work in the medical field, where there has been a HUGE move in recent years to eliminate latex gloves and all other latex-containing products, due to life-threatening latex allergies in an increasing segment of the population.

Am I hearing that latex gloves are commonly used in food preparation? I would think that this would be a significant liability concern for restaurants, much more so than the obscure eggplant allergies that were recently discussed in another thread.

to be honest, i prefer latex gloves over the crappy vinyl (or worse yet, the "plastic bag" variety of glove). Not only are they much more durable, but they give you more tactile sensation in your hand as opposed to not feeling a THING in the vinyl gloves.

I don't mind wearing gloves and switching them out everything I contemplate the word dirty, but it drives me nuts that I can't feel anything as opposed to using my bare hands and just washing them 90-11 times a day.

[panini]

shel,
We broke open our first case of the nitrile gloves. They got quite a warm reception. I ordered a couple of boxes of the 10 ml for sugar. I had to blow a small piece today and the 10 ml over cotton created a much better heat barrier then the latex.
Thank you for the tip!!!
This is why I really like it here at CT.
panini

[sweet pea]

I also prefer Laytex gloves, but I'm interested to see how these nitril gloves work out. Keep us posted.

[Jeebus]

Originally Posted by Salliem

I actually prefer to see cooks using gloves, the only person who does not use gloves at the restaurant where I work is the grill man, but everyone else does. While I can understand your concern about the possibility of the lack of handwashing, wouldn't you rather that said person HAD gloves on if you were not too sure if they did not wash their hands?

Absolutely not. People just touch everything with the gloves. They are generally far more contaminated than clean hands.

[gonefishin]

We've used a good number of different gloves at work. I prefer the vinyl gloves over all of them. But...all vinyl gloves are not created equal.

The first thing you will want to do is order the correct size. Someone who has large or X-tra large hands can't use a medium. However, the reverse shouldn't be a problem.

I wish I were able to look at work and see what Vinyl gloves we have, but I won't be back for a little while yet. When I get there...I'll post the brand.

We've had some vinyl gloves that seemed to explode every time you attempt to put them on...and other vinyl gloves that perform quite well. We've also been forced to try the "deli gloves" too...yuk! Nitryl gloves worked out great for strength, fit and feel, but took away too much of your tactile feel away. They are nice though!

Don't forget that you could call the companies up and get some samples sent too. Just be sure to tell them you would like a small working sample for ALL your employees to use. Sending four gloves just won't give you a "feel" to their performance.

good luck,
dan

[mizshelli]

Personally I hate the feeling of latex anywhere on me, I won't use it unless forced to. I have a habit of keeping hand sanitizer in my apron because I hate the way my hands feel after handling food, especially raw meat. Hand sanitizer is a quick fix till I get over to the sink to wash them. Do many people use the hand sanitizers in the restaurants? I swear by it at home, I won't even wash my coffee pot without sanitizing my hands

[Eeyore]

No Ive never used hand sanitizer. Ill have to think about that. Im a little afraid that, like gloves, it will give people a false sense of security. And Im curious about the risk of over-use of hand sanitizer leading to so-called "super bugs". But I wonder if it is any different than using quat sanitizer.

eeyore