Do you have love for gloves?

December 3, 2024 by
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Food content creators often wear disposable gloves in their videos, with black nitrile gloves being the most popular choice. Wearing gloves is seen as a best practice to ensure food safety, but not everyone agrees that this is the best way to avoid contamination, including this baker on Instagram. She believes that gloves offer a false sense of security with respect to food safety, saying that unless you are washing your gloved hands as frequently as you are washing your hands without gloves, the practice is not any more effective. Proper handwashing is a critical step in preventing contamination, but according to one CDC study, food industry workers only wash their hands 1 in 3 times when they should.

gloved hands arranging food on a blue plate with lettuce, tomatoes, and hardboiled eggs

Studies generally support the idea that contamination can be significantly reduced when food handlers wear gloves, especially when touching ready to eat foods. Gloves are often required by health departments which reinforces this concept. However, one recent study showed that new disposable gloves can themselves contain contaminants. The Journal of Food Protection report says that “glove manufacturing is loosely regulated with inadequate quality controls or verification of product quality, safety, and performance standards. This can result in low-cost and unsanitary glove manufacturing conditions and the use of cheap and unsafe chemicals.”

For those interested in a deep dive on the subject, HACCP International issued a white paper that explores the role of gloves in mitigating the risk of foodborne illness. The paper notes that 15 to 30 percent of all foodborne illness is attributable to poor personal hygiene, specifically poor hand hygiene. The report also provides links to scientific literature regarding the intersection between proper hand sanitation and foodborne illness. Aside from their potential role in reducing food contamination, gloves can protect workers’ hands from cuts, burns, and other hazards.

Bare hands in food videos does not bother me unless the person touches their hair, face, or other potential contaminant and then goes right back to working with the food. I find that unacceptable with or without gloves. I also have an issue with people wearing rings while working with bare hands as I envision germs lurking underneath that wedding band. Plus, I wonder why someone would want their jewelry to touch their food (and vice-versa).

I cook and bake with bare hands most of the time and rely on tactile clues that I wouldn’t get if I wore gloves, such as when kneading bread or mixing together ingredients. I suppose that is one reason I don’t mind bare hands in reels and posts. Do you prefer it when food content creators wear gloves in their videos or are you okay with bare hands?

Category: Antipasto

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11 Comments

  • Fyretigger  on  December 3, 2024

    Significant psoriasis on the index finger of my knife hand has made gloves a necessity when doing significant amounts of chopping. And always for chilis and for mixing raw ground meat (I hate the sensation of raw meat under my finger nails).

    But forming raw meat into meatballs I find I don’t have enough tactile sensation to do the job.

  • lkgrover  on  December 3, 2024

    I value the tactile sensitivity, so no gloves. I do wash my hands frequently, especially when chopping chiles or onions (anything in the allium family), or handling raw meat.

  • FuzzyChef  on  December 4, 2024

    Most of the food tubers i watch wear gloves only while handling raw meat or fish, and that seems appropriate.

  • Skamper  on  December 4, 2024

    It really bothers me to see so many reels with people using gloves when clean, bare hands work just as well. All I can think about are the tons more plastic that will end up in the ocean as newbie home cooks emulate this wasteful practice.

  • lean1  on  December 4, 2024

    I use gloves when handling raw meat or chicken and when cutting hot chilies. Otherwise no. When I knead bread I want to feel the dough.
    I also wash my hands before starting a recipe and wash again if I need to while cooking.

  • Pamsy  on  December 4, 2024

    I’m so pleased to read your comments on jewellery as I find it hugely concerning that so many Chefs/TV Cooks wear it. I learnt to cook in Domestic Science lessons in Secondary School in the UK and the first thing we were taught was watches/jewellery off, apron on, sleeves rolled up and hands washed. Rarely do I see any of that happening on TV. I suppose it’s not cool to be seen to be doing these things nowadays.

    I wear gloves when handling chilli’s and mixing raw mince for meatballs etc.

  • averythingcooks  on  December 5, 2024

    A bit off topic but I ALWAYS wear my hair up/pulled back in a hat when I cook at home. I am amazed to see long (beautifully styled of course) hair hanging over the food during prep on all kinds of food shows….waiting for a judge on a competition to find that single long hair that clearly isn’t theirs!

  • dzeldaz  on  December 6, 2024

    I don’t like to touch raw meat, poultry, or fish. I do everything with the raw products that needs to be done, and then dispose of the gloves. If I must do something before finishing with the raw products, I wash my hands with the gloves on very carefully in the sink, close to the drain to reduce splashing. I carefully clean the sink and counter after preparing raw products.
    I also wear gloves when mixing salads. I don’t like mayonnaise, etc. under my nails, and I don’t feel it’s sanitary to do such mixing without gloves.
    I was not like this when I was younger. The aversion to touching raw meat, fish, and poultry, came about later in life. I could easily be a vegetarian, though my family might disown me if I cooked that way for them.?

  • slimmer  on  December 6, 2024

    I think the black gloves in videos are more for esthetics than sanitary purposes. Then again, I’ve seen some videos where the cook handles raw chicken, and while the video shows the process on and on with each piece of meat, it doesn’t show the cook washing up before the next step. That gives me the willies. I use gloves (usually blue, that’s what we have in the house) when I cut chiles. I tend to use a fork or tongs to handle raw chicken.

  • VickiePNW  on  December 6, 2024

    I prefer not to use gloves but the skin around my fingertips crack with frequent washings. I reuse latex gloves, washing them as I would my hands. Nitrile gloves, in my experience, stretched out quickly.

  • ania.s  on  December 7, 2024

    Bare hands, frequently washed. With bare hands, (no rings) I know when my hands feel mucky and need to be washed. I don’t think I would be as aware if I was wearing gloves.

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