Florida takes off the gloves when it comes to food safety

December 19, 2004
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Rick Allen, Ocala Star-Banner, Fla.

True or False: A food worker must, according to this story, never touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands.

If you choose false, consider yourself, the story says, a savvy diner; you're absolutely correct.

As difficult as it may be for some to swallow, bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food -- defined as any food that is edible without further washing or cooking -- is allowed in carefully controlled circumstances. In fact, there are some who say wearing gloves is less effective at preventing cross contamination than bare hands.

Geoff Luebkemann, director of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Hotels and Restaurants, was quoted as saying, "The public perception is gloves must be safe. But the reality is a properly washed bare hand with no break in the skin is a safer food utensil than a contaminated glove" and that gloves, can offer a "false sense of security.
... The gloves can become an extension of the person's hands; they become desensitized to the fact they're wearing them or they begin to think that somehow their hands are impervious to germs."

The story says that even with gloves, food workers are required to change them every time they change a task -- washing their hands properly between each change -- or after four hours of doing the same task. Sometimes workers fail to wash their hands or simply use a hand sanitizer before putting on gloves; each is a violation of food safety requirements.

Florida is unique in its willingness to allow bare-hand contact. But it's not OK simply at the restaurateur's whim; an operator must secure permission from the DBPR in the form of an Alternative Operating Procedure.

Luebkemann was further cited as saying that without an AOP, no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food is permissible.

Among the necessary components of an AOP are it be written and available to staff, it be reviewed and updated yearly or sooner if menu changes warrant, specifies which work stations and employee positions are eligible, requires training in cross contamination and hygiene, sets out monitoring requirements by management and lists corrective actions.

Even with an AOP sometimes glove use is required, like for workers with long or fake fingernails or who may have a cut on their hands.

Crucial to the AOP is hand washing and hygiene training and monitoring by managers.