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Hand washing and the use of gloves for food protection

In November 1998 we commented on information available regarding hand washing in the food service industry and in particular a detailed review in Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation 18 (3) 1998 149-162. The author of that review, Peter Snyder, concluded that there is no documented evidence that food prepared and served by people wearing gloves is safer than food prepared by people using effective hand washing procedures.

In a subsequent issue of the same journal (Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation 18 (12) 1998 814-823) authors Fendler, Dolan and Williams reach the same conclusion from their own literature review. They conclude that the scientific evidence is insufficient to support the premise that the use of a physical barrier (gloves) on the hands of food handling personnel prevents the transfer of pathogens to food.

These workers then proceeded to conduct a study under simulated food service conditions to try to define the most effective hand hygiene regimens to minimise health risk to the consumer. They used six different washing/gloving protocols and minced beef (inoculated with a non-pathogenic strain of Escherichia coli) as the test food. A second experiment involved inoculating the subjects' hands directly with E. coli before the test regimen began.

While there is a degree of artificiality about any such study, detailed results are presented which support the authors' conclusion that, 'bare hands with a regimen of hourly handwashing and sanitising provided significantly higher hand sanitisation levels than any of the five other regimens including those employing gloves'.

The results of this study have significant implications in the United States where the FDA mandates the use of gloves on personnel handling ready-to-eat foods. No such legislative requirement exists in this country and nor is one foreshadowed in proposed national food safety legislation.

However the use of gloves in food service situations is not uncommon in this country and is encouraged by some food hygiene training providers. There may be good reasons for wearing gloves in certain food handling situations. The evidence presented in this study and in the two recent reviews suggests strongly that when gloves are used they should be an adjunct to good hand washing practice and in no way a replacement for it.

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Prepared by Keith Richardson and Beverley George
Food Science Australia
PO Box 52, North Ryde 1670. Tel +61 2 9490 8397 Fax +61 2 9490 8499
Email enquiries@csiro.au