Use of Gloves for Handling Food

Once you've lived in a place where food workers are required to wear gloves, it's hard to think of a reason they shouldn't. The hands transport loads of germs and bacteria, and while exposing yourself to some of these organisms keeps your immune system strong, ask yourself: do you really want a stranger's bare hands touching your food? Using gloves to prepare food is an important step in maintaining the public health in commercial restaurants and institutions that serve food.

Check the Rules

• Follow your local health code. The rules vary state by state, but in many places, food service workers are required to wear gloves. These prevent transfer of germs from the hands to the food; they're especially important in one-person shops, where the chef touches all sorts of supplies and handles money.

Be a Clean Shop

• Wear gloves anyway. Even if local rules don't require you to wear gloves, doing so tells customers and clients that you're looking out for them and running a clean shop. This will win loyalty from customers who are especially observant about the way their food is prepared.

Switch Them Out

• Change gloves frequently. If you're working at a sandwich shop, for example, put on a fresh pair every time you start a new order. Wearing gloves too long allows germs from the knives, condiment bottles and anything else you touched to transfer to the next sandwich you make.

  Change gloves when they've torn or become worn; they last only a few hours at best. Also change after coughing or sneezing, before starting a new kitchen task, and before switching from handling raw food to cooked food.

Practice Basic Hygiene

• Wash your hands. Though gloves provide an additional barrier between your hands and the food, frequent hand washing remains important. It adds another layer of protection for the customer, and it's a good practice to keep you healthy as well. Wash before you put on gloves and whenever you change them.

Band-Aid Solution

• Bandage your wounds. Transferring germs is one thing, and transferring blood-borne illness is quite another. If you have cuts on your hands, treat them with antibiotic ointment and bandage them carefully. Make sure the entire cut is covered, and that blood is nowhere near the edge of the bandage.

Throw Them Away

• Dispose of used gloves. It seems wasteful, but to do otherwise is unhealthy. Gloves are made for a single use, and once they've served that purpose, they're no good to anyone.