Is It Mandatory For Food Workers To Wear Gloves?

When you go out to eat at a nice restaurant, there are some little-known etiquette rules for fine dining that you should follow (and even more unique ones in England); that's just the patron holding up their end of the dining-out bargain. But if you get a glimpse of the food workers in the kitchen and see that they're not all wearing gloves, you might feel as though they aren't holding up theirs. Isn't it mandatory for people handling food to wear gloves? Actually, there is no federal law that states food workers must wear gloves; only some states (and/or city-wide or other local municipalities) may require glove-wearing by food preparers under certain circumstances, like if they're directly handling ready-to-eat food.

However, kitchen staff will always be advised to wear gloves if they show up to work with wounds on their hands (such as cuts or burns). The same is true if they are wearing nail polish (imagine some of that polish flaking off into your food — our stomachs get queasy just thinking about it). Other than that, though, provided the food will be cooked after being prepared, no gloves are necessary — only thorough and frequent hand-washing.

Food handlers are advised not to have bare-hand contact when preparing ready-to-eat food because these items do not get a final cook before being served to hungry customers; therefore, any bacteria that might be transferred from bare hands will not get cooked off. You could see this play out when you visit an eatery like a sub shop, depending on what state you're in. Everything from the cured deli meats and cheeses to the toppings, like lettuce, pickles, and even the buns, constitute ready-to-eat foods that end up being handled directly by the person making your sub. Therefore, the preparer should be wearing gloves, and changing single-use gloves frequently — at least between customers.

There are a few workarounds to this rule in some states, like in New York, where even in a situation with ready-to-eat food you might not see the preparers wearing gloves. For example, in a fast-casual restaurant that serves up customizable salads, pretty much all of the ingredients can be placed in the bowl with a scoop or spoon, or tongs, and that is technically acceptable. The food worker might also use parchment paper or deli paper as a barrier between their bare hands and the food. Whether the person preparing your sub or salad wears gloves or not, though, you should see evidence that they wash their hands frequently.