Food handlers may think they are protecting consumers from germs by wearing protective gloves while they prepare or serve food, but there may be negative consequences due to glove use, according to a recently published White Paper by the Food and Drug Administration.
In addition, FDA confirmed that frequent, proper hand-washing and drying with paper towels is an effective method for helping to reduce the transmission of germs from food handlers to consumers, but that re-contamination of cleaned hands can occur from using hot-air dryers or touching buttons, levers, or cranks on paper-towel dispensers.
An alternative is using a hands-free dispenser, such as those offered by Georgia-Pacific Tissue, a primary research consultant for the FDA review on the transference of germs from food handlers.
CROSS-CONTAMINATION
Many foodborne illnesses are most often spread through cross contamination: the transfer of germs from one surface, food, or person to another.
According to the FDA review, food workers may transmit pathogens through hand contact with ready-to-eat foods, which represents a potentially important mechanism by which germs may enter the food supply. In addition, it provides evidence that food workers, particularly ill food workers, can serve as the source of infection in foodborne outbreaks. In many instances, ill food workers transmitted diseases to others within the work place, increasing probability for, and the ultimate size of, an outbreak. Hands-free dispensers eliminate the need to come into contact with buttons, levers, or cranks in order to retrieve a paper towel, helping decrease the possibility of cross-contamination.
PROPER HAND WASHING
Proper hand washing includes moistening hands under warm, running water, and using soap -- about a teaspoon of liquid soap instead of bar soap, when possible. Hands should be rubbed together at least 15 to 20 seconds to work up a good lather, paying particular attention to the spaces between the fingers and under the nails, and ideally using a clean nail brush. The soap should then be rinsed with warm, running water for 30 seconds, and the hands dried completely with clean paper towels, so germs can be thrown away instead of potentially spreading to another person sharing a communal cloth towel.
Ways to help avoid recontamination: paper towels should be taken from a hands-free dispenser, water should be left running after rinsing hand, and the faucet handle should be grasped with paper towels to turn off the water after drying hands.
INFERIOR INTERVENTION METHODS
The FDA White Paper addressed the use of gloves as barriers for food handlers, but the National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria in Foods concluded there was insufficient scientific data available to show that wearing gloves, or using other methods to prevent bare hand contact, would have a significant impact on the reduction of bacteria transmission in the food preparation process.
It cited research that wearing gloves to prepare and serve food does not necessarily prevent cross-contamination, and may even have unforeseen consequences, such as presenting an even greater potential for transmission of disease.
In addition, according to the FDA report, one study cited that hot-air dryers could increase the number of bacteria in their nozzles. Furthermore, the bacteriologic quality of continuous cloth towels was found to be inferior to paper towels.
Proper Hand Washing:
2000-01 Almanac Published