[Sca-cooks] Re: Safety (now catering gloves)

[Nick Sasso]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kirsten Houseknecht" <kirsten at fabricdragon.com>
> as i have said.. sufficient hand washing with clean water (or fair
water as
> the old books put it) is sufficient for most duties.
<<SNIP>>
> gloves are an easy way to keep cross contamination down to a minimum,
so
> when food allergies and such is an issue gloves are easier than hand
> washing....<<<SNIP>>>
> i will state that gloves do allow for a situation where there is no
easy way
> to keep washing up.... many of the kitchens i have been in have one
sink..
> and prior to feast its being used for FOOD washing and not available
for
> hand washing.. at least not easily.. and going out to a crowded
bathroom
> (with everyone changing clothes) to wash up more than once can be
hard to
> manage.
> so wash up before cooking, and there after wear gloves.. usually is
very
> efficient.  <<SNIP>>

Pardon if the comes off heavy handed, but food safety is one of those
things that is easy to do that with.

Nearly every health related agency that I have read from that advocates
use of gloves in food preparation does so in the realm of an integrated
food safety plan.  Slapping loose latex on a hand as a panacea is a
joke, while no one is advocating that.  We are talking a continuum,
though.  Washing hands without taking issue with clean and restrained
hair loses some more of the war on germ-beasties contamination.  Same
with food storage and safe temperature management.

No matter what one pet safety procedure one takes up arms with, if it
doesn't fit into a well developed plan to manage critical points of
contact, then you're really fooling yourself or getting lucky.  I mean,
do you have people change gloves as often as recommended?  that should
run into dozens of pairs a day for each person, and that's expensive
(for example, changing gloves every two hours of a repetitive task with
at-risk food like handling chicken, regardless of any other issue . . .
since that is the maximum safe time for chicken to be above 40F).  Do
you also assure that all broken skin is cleaned, bandaged with moisture
resistant bandages and covered with clean gloves at ALL  times?  Check
everyone's finger nails for length and cleanliness every shift?  So many
risk points to cover them all, so wearing gloves is a useful tool, but
it's like trying to build a house with only a hammer . . . invaluable,
but can't do everything with it.

pacem et bonum,
niccolo difrancesco