Chefs with Rubber Gloves

[menton1]

When I see food being handled with rubber gloves, whether it be a chef, a kitchen helper, or a food store clerk, I am just turned off. Somehow it just seems to me that these gloves are LESS sanitary than hands that are washed thoroughly and kept clean.

I've seen these gloves sprout up and are used regularly by deli clerks and sandwich makers; can't see the logic. Just a few years ago these gloves were just never used, and I didn't notice any pandemic breakouts.

Just picture in your mind a Jacques Pépin, Lidia, or a Daniel Boulud on a TV show wearing rubber gloves! Ecchh! You wouldn't touch the stuff! I think all these latex gloves should just be tossed, and all these people should just be required to maintain good "hand hygiene". Much more palatable.

[Gifted Gourmet]

rubber glove discussion here

I think that there are several schools of thought on this issue ... the bacteria issue ... cutting chiles, etc ... but it does make me initially think: ooooh, a chef or a proctologist?

[SuzySushi]

I think that there are several schools of thought on this issue ... the bacteria issue ... cutting chiles, etc ... but it does make me initially think: ooooh, a chef or a proctologist? 

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How true! I distinctly remember an article that appeared years ago in the entertaining at home section of Bon Appetit magazine. The featured chef was a Filipina woman (from Philadelphia, I seem to recall) who was a gynecologist! She was preparing a traditional Filipino party dish of rolled flank steak, and the prep photos showed her wearing rubber gloves.

[EdS]

More often than not, when I see someone wearing gloves at a place like a sandwich shop there's no correlation between them being used to handle the food, the money, or both. I try not to think about it.

[McDuff]

More often than not, when I see someone wearing gloves at a place like a sandwich shop there's no correlation between them being used to handle the food, the money, or both. I try not to think about it.

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that's just gross. I've had that happen before. Took the money from the customer in front of me, then made my sub with the same gloves. Yesterday I was in a ...way and the girl peeled off the gloves and tossed them before taking the money. I almost said, you're well trained.

People at work constantly take off their gloves and leave them on the counter. To me, it might as well be toilet paper. "Hey Jane...you trying to make me sick?"

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Gloves are a law in New York State, for handling food that is not going to be cooked before serving. I hate them. Clean hands, short nails, and no jewelry is better.

I'd rather it just be a law that guys with hairy hands, or people with those horrible long nails, have to wear them.

[Beanie]

I agree with the above, but if we didn't use them the NYS inspectors would shut us down. That being said, we throw them away before handling money, then wash hands. At least that how staff is trained.

[srhcb]

I agree with the above, but if we didn't use them the NYS inspectors would shut us down. That being said, we throw them away before handling money, then wash hands. At least that how staff is trained. 

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Why is training people to use gloves properly supposed to be easier than training them to wash their hands and handle food properly?

It isn't. In fact, because the plastic gloves are unnatural, workers tend to misuse them and food ends up at even more risk of contamination than before.

But it makes the inspectors job easier, and that's what counts.

SB (plus, the poiticians and beauracrats pretend they "solved" a problem)

[Fresser]

rubber glove discussion here

I think that there are several schools of thought on this issue ... the bacteria issue ... cutting chiles, etc ... but it does make me initially think: ooooh, a chef or a proctologist? 

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At the Rubber Glove Cafe, the chef's special is butt steak!

[jturn00]

I agree with the above, but if we didn't use them the NYS inspectors would shut us down. That being said, we throw them away before handling money, then wash hands. At least that how staff is trained. 

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Why is training people to use gloves properly supposed to be easier than training them to wash their hands and handle food properly?

It isn't. In fact, because the plastic gloves are unnatural, workers tend to misuse them and food ends up at even more risk of contamination than before.

But it makes the inspectors job easier, and that's what counts.

SB (plus, the poiticians and beauracrats pretend they "solved" a problem)

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It is hard to check if a person has washed their hands or if their hands are clean. But it is easy to check for rubber gloves and if the gloves are dirty. I find gloves really usefull in that I work on something where my hands get stick or messy with a dough or batter then 2 seconds later those messy gloves are in the trash with new ones on my hands ready for the next task.

[scott123]

The gloves, from my experience working with food, are less about cleanliness and more about the appearance of cleanliness. For many of my co-workers there was this unwritten agreement that as long as you had the gloves on/followed the rules, just about everything else would be okay. Scratching yourself, sneezing, wiping your nose- if you've got the gloves on, no problem. Technically, we were supposed to put on a fresh pair of gloves for each customer, but in practice, this almost never occured. We had a sink for washing hands, but I was the only one that ever used it.

The scariest part of the job was at night all the stainless steel cabinets would get a liberal spraying with the nastiest petrochemical stainless steel polish imaginable. The next day the gloves would go on and the handles/cabinets grabbed. If people weren't wearing the gloves, they'd know they're getting nasty crap on their hands, but with the gloves on, there's a desensitization occuring.

"Ooh, could get just a little more petrochemical residue on my sandwich? Just a dab?"

[menton1]

It is hard to check if a person has washed their hands or if their hands are clean.  But it is easy to check for rubber gloves and if the gloves are dirty.  I find gloves really usefull in that I work on something where my hands get stick or messy with a dough or batter then 2 seconds later those messy gloves are in the trash with new ones on my hands ready for the next task.

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How can you check if gloves are dirty? There are many brands and many shades of these gloves. A friend told me that unless these gloves are sterile, they can actually have more bacteria than hands washed in soap and hot water. And nobody uses sterile gloves, too expensive.

I just watched Jacques Pépin cook some wonderful fish and sauce on TV, he did everything with his hands, and I loved it!

[rooftop1000]

I think I love you all right now....After I worked 20 yrs in food service New Jersey went to the glove law last March. I spent the summer working in a place that you only had to wear 1 glove on your left hand...right hand for knife handle, slicer handle, door handles....after that I just gave up.

can someone teach me Excel - I'll feed ya

tracey

[andiesenji]

Once upon a time (back in the dark ages) I was a lab technician in the Army. From time to time, we were required to take nail scrapings from surgical technicians and the surgeons, AFTER they had scrubbed their hands and nails for two minutes (protocol at the time).

If you had seen the colonies of bacteria that grew on the culture media in that situation, you would not complain about gloves. However it is true that staff must be trained in the proper use of gloves. L.A. County has the letter system and one complaint of improper use of gloves can mean loss of the big blue "A" to a "B" which can lose a food place a lot of business.

The Subway shop across the street from my office has a rule that the people making the sandwiches, handling the food, are not allowed to work the register or handle money and if they leave the prep counter they have to discard their gloves and apply a new pair when they return. Failure to comply gets a termination after one warning.

I wear gloves in my own kitchen because the phone always seems to ring when I have my hands in something messy. I rip off the gloves and toss them and can answer the phone with clean hands. Gloves are cheap and I would rather use half a dozen pair while preparing food than take a chance on contamination, particularly when handling raw meats and then something that is to be served raw, such as salad, vegetables or fruit. Even with serious hand scrubbing, the bad bugs can be transferred.

[chiantiglace]

knowing how people handle themselves in the kitchen, I have no problem with them wearing gloves infront of me.

I actually think its kind of pointless to argue about it. Do what your suppose to and keep clean, gloves or no gloves. I'd rather them use gloves.

[slo_ted]

I use gloves routinely when preparing food just as I do in the urgnent care center where I work. They are by the way easier to wash than skin.

[ChefCrash]

I'm turned off buy seeing cooks handle food with gloves. I'm also turned off when I look at platings so intricate, all I can imagine is the chef handling every morsel of food with their shiny oily fingers. Actually, I don't have to imagine, they do it on 'Iron Chef America' all the time.

There has to be a middle ground. Many times, those chefs could have used tongs to place cooked foods on plates. I do it all the time, hardly ever, do I have to touch raw and more importantly, cooked food.

[Teri Everitt]

I find the gloves a turnoff for 2 reasons......because of the issues mentioned upthread of whether gloves give food handlers a false sense of security and they are less careful about keeping them clean then they would be working without them.........and also because if you enjoy cooking then you know how important it is to use your senses while you cook. I will use gloves at work if I have a cut or if I am juicing a million lemons for lemon curd, but I have to leave one hand bare. I can't stand not having any feedback from what I am touching. It makes me feel "blind", if that makes any sense at all.

[scubadoo97]

The gloves, from my experience working with food, are less about cleanliness and more about the appearance of cleanliness.

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"The appearance of", is extended to many areas of government.

Are we cleaner, more secure, safer? I doubt it, but it looks good.