# Safe glove use.......



## diggingdogfarm (Mar 4, 2013)

Are you contaminating your food safety gloves with dirty fingertips?

Why gloves are not the solution to the fingertip washing problem.
http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents2001/Glove-problems.html

Cross-contamination of gloves when being put on.
http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents2004/gloglove-2.pdf

Double hand washing with a fingernail brush.
http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Handflow.html

~Martin


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## kathrynn (Mar 4, 2013)

Great info Martin...from my Nursing years in Health Care...proper hand washing and usages is vital for making sure no one gets sick.


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## chef jimmyj (Mar 6, 2013)

Although gloves are a requirement as noted, many old school Chefs hate them for reasons stated. You can't feel the sticky residue of meat juices and therefore many employees move from job to job without changing gloves. More than once I verbally beat up a Dishwasher or Bus Person for handling dirty dishes with gloved hands the scooping Ice into a glass for a drink contaminating the scoop handle and in some cases the ice itself. As a teen I scooped Ice Cream for Friendly's my hands would get very sticky so I would automatically wash between customers. Watch the kids with gloved hands some time, they scoop endlessly with the same gloves on...JJ


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

I almost never eat-out because I can't help setting there and noting all the food safety errors.....it's happened at EVERY place I've ever eaten at, no matter how fancy, in fact some of the fancier places are the worst.
Yes, I'm a paranoid germaphobe with OCD. LOL


~Martin


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## pops6927 (Mar 8, 2013)

About the worst I've found is a cigarette butt in a foil-wrapped potato at Ponderosa Steak House, sent it back for another one.  That I know about.  I'm sure plenty I don't know about.  Being a meatcutter, it was in the late 70's that we had to start sanitizing cutting boards between species; otherwise we'd process rewraps and bring out a chuck and cut some steaks, split a few chickens and slice some chops all on the same boards and saw.  Didn't think anything of it, just scraped the juice off and start another thing. Nothing wrong with dirt as long as it's good clean dirt...


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

I could give hundreds of examples....

Last time we were at a local pizza parlor, the server set a pizza down at the wrong table, in front of a bunch of coughing and sneezing college kids, then without thought took it to where it belongs. The pizza should have been trashed.

Same server was "eagle-clawing" beverages.

Same server took cash and didn't wash up afterward.

Same server bused a table and didn't wash up before serving others.


I could go on and on for days...LOL


~Martin


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

Oh, probably the worst I've seen was a server cleaning the bathrooms and also serving people.
I aggressively confronted the manager over the deal and he couldn't see a problem with it, to which I responded, if he sees no problem, he's not someone who should be managing a restaurant.
What happened was wrong on so many levels.
Apparently, ownership agreed, the manager was fired.


~Martin


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## kathrynn (Mar 8, 2013)

Martin...understand!  If we all think about all the germs and poor safety issues that are out there....none of us would leave the house!  But..we have to!

Kat


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## jp61 (Mar 8, 2013)

Thanks for the heads-up Martin!

Not quite the same, but back in my teenage years I worked at a fancy seafood place as a kitchen prep. We had free lunches (basic stuff), one day one of the cooks was going to hook me up with a nice New York strip stake. I was standing right next to him when he pulled out the stake-drawer only to  reveal the cockroaches having a feast. I said.... no thanks, I'll have a cheeseburger instead. I use to use a can of spray stainless-steel cleaner as a flame thrower to fry them off of the walls.


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## goingcamping (Mar 8, 2013)

DiggingDogFarm said:


> Yes, I'm a paranoid germaphobe with OCD. LOL
> 
> 
> ~Martin


 Umm hello, it CDO! (The proper order!)


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## jp61 (Mar 8, 2013)

DiggingDogFarm said:


> I could give hundreds of examples....
> 
> Last time we were at a local pizza parlor, the server set a pizza down at the wrong table, in front of a bunch of coughing and sneezing college kids, then without thought took it to where it belongs. The pizza should have been trashed.
> 
> ...


Probably because of impatient customers, greedy owners and he/she just trying to survive.


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

She wasn't properly trained, or if she was, she was ignoring the rules.
My mother would have freaked-out if that girl operated like that one of her restaurants.


~Martin


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## s2k9k (Mar 8, 2013)

DiggingDogFarm said:


> I could give hundreds of examples....
> 
> Last time we were at a local pizza parlor, the server set a pizza down at the wrong table, in front of a bunch of coughing and sneezing college kids, then without thought took it to where it belongs. The pizza should have been trashed.
> 
> ...



Man I hate the claw!!!


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

Makes you wonder what folks are doing when nobody is looking! YIKES!!!!! LOL



~Martin


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## jp61 (Mar 8, 2013)

Lack of proper training is a problem at many places, but sometimes in a madhouse atmosphere, unfortunately part of training goes out the window. Obviously your mother cared for many reasons. The owner of the place I spoke of above spent 90% of his time at the bar....probably keeping one ear on the cash register.


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

Chef JimmyJ said:


> As a teen I scooped Ice Cream for Friendly's my hands would get very sticky so I would automatically wash between customers. Watch the kids with gloved hands some time, they scoop endlessly with the same gloves on...JJ



Or at the local Italian sub shop here, they'll use gloves while making the sub....okay....but then they'll take the gloves off to run the register, handle the nasty money and touch the dirty register keys and then put the gloves back on with their nasty hands!!!! YUCK!!!! They do the same thing repeatedly. No thanks!!! I'll stay home! LOL

~Martin


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## jp61 (Mar 8, 2013)

You guys must not be aware of how much gloves cost these days..... 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





<------ manager lol.


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

The sub shop problem is another case of poor management, training and discipline.......an easy solution would be for the owner to run the register (as he does sometimes, but rarely) instead of aimlessly walking around in a daze like a dork.
Nitrile gloves and the like are expensive, but basic plastic gloves are very cheap in case quantities.
Either a place is highly committed to food safety, quality and customer satisfaction (some customers are watching very closely) or it's not, and if it's not, it's not a place that I want to frequent.

~Martin


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## jp61 (Mar 8, 2013)

Speaking of the unseen...... I didn't get the whole story, but the other day I heard there's bacteria issues going on mainly in hospitals and on the East coast. Supposedly strongest antibiotics have no effect.  Hear anything about this? It sounded pretty serious!

sorry....hope you don't mind me asking. didn't want to start a new thread.


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 8, 2013)

I read the article.
Very scary.
Germs that are resistant to all antibiotics, even antibiotics of last resort.
Resistance is increasing all the time, and it's also being transferred to other bacteria.


~Martin


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## daveomak (Mar 8, 2013)

I read that....   It's amazing how bacteria can pass on genetic resistance to other bacteria....   And some folks are worrying about global warming.... little do they know..... microscopic bugs are taking over the human race.....


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## maple sticks (Mar 8, 2013)

After studying for my food handlers license you kind of start watching when you go out to eat. Never paid that much attention before. License should be required to work in any food environment.


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## ironhorse07 (Mar 9, 2013)

Just got my Safeserv recert a couple of weeks ago and they were saying the CDC is reviewing the glove policy because ofter 30 years of research they found that gloves are no more affective than proper hand washing.

Also...just think about that mint bowl and how many people use the restroom before they leave and don't wash their hands (8-9 out of 10 for both)


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## davidhef88 (Mar 9, 2013)

I work in the linen industry and maintain 76 accounts. I am in kitchens all day and you wouldn't believe the things I see


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## rabbithutch (Mar 9, 2013)

Interesting thread.  I learned some new things but I also had some of my practices validated.  For example, I use gloves of 2 types.  I have some long-sleeved ones that are insulated that I use when handling hot food.  These gloves are cleaned with a diluted spray of bleach then bagged in a ziploc bag.  I then wash the gloves after putting them on and before handling hot food.  They are not used again without going back through the bleach, rinse, wash process. 

I use thinner rubber gloves for prepping and when they come off they are thrown away.  I never use them across food stuff items.  For example, I wear one on my left hand when chopping veg but not on my right hand which is on the knife.  For cleaning pork, poultry or beef, I wear a pair and throw them away when they come off.  I don't do but one thing at a time.  All of my cooking is for family and friends - not for the public for pay - so handling cash, busing tables, etc. is not an issue that arises.

About 18 months ago, I acquired a _streptococcus Millerii _ infection at the site of an artificial knee joint.  This is a common bacteria in the environment and the auto-immune systems for most folks deal with it without problems.  But, because the artificial knee creates a hole in my auto-immune response at that site, the bacteria piled up there and put me through Hell for a month.  My fever came on as suddenly as being struck by a car and went dangerously high.  I went through kidney failure, delirium for days, and central line administration of exotic antibiotics for 2 months.  I have to take penicillin twice a day and probably will for life.  Why tell this story on this forum?  Because there are many of us with compromised immune systems.  The compromise need not be great nor "boy in a bubble" type exposures for dire consequences to result.  Most people would call me OCD for the frequency I wash my hands, but I call it experienced behavior.

On the subject of commercial food servers, in my early days I held several different jobs before going to college and earning a degree and finding a career in IT.  One of those jobs was as a rating agent for insurance companies in my home state.  Due to a string of very large losses from restaurant fires, a team of us inspected every restaurant in NC over a period of a few months.  (A restaurant for those purposes was defined as having the ability to deep fry - no matter how large or small the fryer.)  Our protocol for inspection was pretty extensive.  I saw things in kitchens that actually turned my stomach and these were not always low-end providers (and, I have a very strong stomach).

A few years later, I went into pest control working for my FIL.  I did everything from whole warehouse fumigation with cyanide gas to termite treatment to ordinary pest control in homes and businesses.  Some of our most frequent calls were in restaurants and institutional food preparation areas.  The most common problem was persistent cockroaches.  And the problems always were the result of lax kitchen hygiene.

One last story:  The reporter for the Houston TV station that broke the story on the "best little whorehouse in Texas," Marvin Zindler (now deceased), used to do a spot once a week on surprise inspections that his team would do on restaurants in that city.  In the 3+ years that I lived there and heard his reports, I don't think he ever gave any restaurant a "clean bill of health" because it was too easy to find one or more hygiene problems.  I think his favorites was "SLIME IN THE ICE MACHINE!"  It became the tag line to his pieces on the subject.

Martin, thank you for reminding us that we must be ever vigilant and careful when we handle or consume food.


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 9, 2013)

rabbithutch said:


> About 18 months ago, I acquired a _streptococcus Millerii _ infection at the site of an artificial knee joint.  This is a common bacteria in the environment and the auto-immune systems for most folks deal with it without problems.  But, because the artificial knee creates a hole in my auto-immune response at that site, the bacteria piled up there and put me through Hell for a month.  My fever came on as suddenly as being struck by a car and went dangerously high.  I went through kidney failure, delirium for days, and central line administration of exotic antibiotics for 2 months.  I have to take penicillin twice a day and probably will for life.  Why tell this story on this forum?  Because there are many of us with compromised immune systems.  The compromise need not be great nor "boy in a bubble" type exposures for dire consequences to result.  Most people would call me OCD for the frequency I wash my hands, but I call it experienced behavior.



Wow!
I'm sorry to hear that.
Basically the same thing happened to my cousin with a hip transplant, things got so bad he spent a few months in a nursing home.
He's back home and doing much better now.

~Martin


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## kathrynn (Mar 9, 2013)

Ironhorse07 said:


> Just got my Safeserv recert a couple of weeks ago and they were saying the CDC is reviewing the glove policy because ofter 30 years of research they found that gloves are no more affective than proper hand washing.
> 
> Also...just think about that mint bowl and how many people use the restroom before they leave and don't wash their hands (8-9 out of 10 for both)


I hate public bathrooms where you have to pull the door open.  Would rather have one that I can push with my body to open and not my hands that I have just washed.  Just a pet peeve!

Kat


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 9, 2013)

Yes, that is stupid, they should all be so they open by pushing from the inside.


~Martin


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## jp61 (Mar 9, 2013)

DiggingDogFarm said:


> Yes, that is stupid, they should all be so they open by pushing from the inside.
> 
> 
> ~Martin










   Maybe not, if one is whispering the I-gotta-go song  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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  only at this point that fits into the equation.

I wonder how many people leaving got a busted nose like that?

Motion sensor or push-button operated pocket-style doors would be nice, but that's too much $/door for it to happen willingly.


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## mountainhawg (Mar 10, 2013)

The feature I saw about it on TV said if the hospital staffs paid more attention to washing their hands more frequently the less it will spread. Those cruise ships seem to be good incubators for bacteria, germs viruses etc.also, but again frequent hand washing and not putting one's dirty hands up on facial areas would help prevent the catching and spreading of the baddies.


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## michael ark (Mar 11, 2013)

Slime in th ice machine is verry common worked on too many.  My grandma walked into the hospital to have knee surgery . She ended up haveing 5 surgery to remove infection after that. She soon died after that from cancer.


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## jp61 (Mar 11, 2013)

michael ark said:


> Slime in th ice machine is verry common worked on too many. My grandma walked into the hospital to have knee surgery . She ended up haveing 5 surgery to remove infection after that. She soon died after that from cancer.


I am really sorry to hear that. May she rest in peace.


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