A Guide to Choosing the Right Gloves for the Foodservice Industry

Choosing the right gloves for the protection and dexterity for a task is often overlooked. Do you know over half of all food-borne illnesses are caused by food consumed at a restaurant? Be it a restaurant or a food/meat processing plant, when individuals handle food, bacteria they carry will be transmitted to the food from their hand. This is when the gloves come to the play. However, the use of food services safety gloves is not being utilised properly.

Foodservice safety is paramount for both employees and employers to consider as neglecting can result in legal issues. Not to mention, it will negatively impact your brand and upset customers. You wouldn’t want to lose your customers. So, you need to achieve a high level of food service safety when handling food. Here’s your guide to choosing the right gloves:-

Comfort

For any foodservice application, gloves that have a high level of cut resistance are the safest. However, it is important to choose gloves that offer the wearer enough comfort and mobility for the job. Workers who find their gloves to be uncomfortable will end up working in bare hands as it would impact their workflow. This is called over gloving. Hence, it is essential to find the right balance between mobility and comfort when choosing the gloves for your employees.

Be it cpe gloves or latex powder free gloves, ensure it is as comfortable as possible. They need to be sized correctly. Remember, gloves that are too big can be hard to work, whereas those that are small can cause hand injuries. Small gloves will increase the perspiration levels and tend to tear easily.

Material

This is one of the major factors that you need to consider when choosing gloves. Now that you know the importance of comfort, you’ll have to look at the materials of the gloves in the food industry. Polyethylene, vinyl, latex, and nitrile powder free gloves are the different types of materials. Compared to other materials, Polyethylene is the most economical choice and is perfect for light applications.

Vinyl is the most popular glove in the food industry, but they are expensive than other materials like nitrile and natural rubber latex. If you are looking for a cut-resistant glove, then nitrile powder free gloves is an ideal choice as they are better than vinyl gloves for applications that require dexterity and sensitivity.

If your food preparation is delicate and you need maximum dexterity, latex food service gloves are the right choice. It is frequently used in the food service industry as they can withstand moderate to high heat environments.

However, when handling food, it is very important that chemicals in the glove do not get into the food where they could be ingested. Based on the glove material, the food itself can trigger the release of the chemicals. So, choose the right material based on the food you are handling.

Cut resistant

According to research, labour, cuts, abrasions, and punctures make up to 30%of lost time and production. So, it is essential to choose the right cut resistant for your employee’s protective gloves. Select gloves that have a high level of cut resistant.

By considering these factors, you should be able to choose the right gloves for your restaurant, hotel, or meat processing plant.

The author is a blogger and supplies premium cpe gloves that are sourced from international brands. He aims to bridge the gap between PPE manufacturers and the people who need those most, including front-line healthcare professionals, industrial workers, and venue operators. Visit https://www.ap-ds.com for more details.

Founded in 2002, by its directors Colin Munro and Ron Doig, Munro Doig Lawyers is a leading law firm based in Perth, Western Australia.