Vinyl Gloves for a Safer Food Service

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VINYL GLOVES FOR A SAFER FOOD SERVICE

Vinyl gloves for a safer food service

Robin Stone

Moe’s

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Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary…...………….………………………………………....3

II. Introduction………….………….……………………………………….......4

III. Food Safety Challenges……………………………………….......................5

IV. Benefits of using disposable vinyl gloves…………………………………...6

V. Closing Thoughts……………………………………………………………8

VI. References..………………………………………………………………….9

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Executive Summary

Safety is one of our top priorities as a company. Not only for us as employees, but for the

customer. As one of the primary handlers of their food, I need to be sure that their food is safe

from beginning of preparation to delivery. We pride ourselves and set a high standard for safety

for all of our stakeholders. And currently, I believe we as a company are not fully living up to

that standard.

The polyethylene hand gloves we use when cutting, cooking, and handling the customer’s food

are simply not good enough. The gloves break easily, offer no heat resistance, and have, on

occasion, wound up in customers’ food.

I believe the solution to our problem is vinyl gloves. They offer better protection since they are

heat resistant and more durable than polyethylene gloves. Although they are more expensive than

polyethylene gloves, vinyl gloves are less likely to break and will therefore last longer, evening

out the cost. The bottom line is, we need to make the switch sooner rather than later.

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Introduction

At Moe’s Southwest Grill, we give top priority to safety and hygiene. But nowadays, we have

been receiving complaints from customer regarding pieces of gloves being found in their food.

As we use disposable polyethylene gloves for food service, it has been observed that the gloves

melt and tear apart due to heat while cooking the food. This is because the polyethylene gloves

are low in cost and density and they are not resistant to heat. This causes workers to touch the

food with their bare hands which causes food contamination.

To fix this problem, disposable polyethylene gloves must be replaced by vinyl gloves. Vinyl

gloves are not only heat resistant but are also made of a material safe to human body. They are

unbreakable with strong tensile strength. The vinyl gloves are inexpensive and hence will not

cost additional expenditure. This solution will definitely help us to limit the complaints from

customers and avoid food contamination problem. A comparative study shows the disadvantages

of polyethylene gloves (See Table 1).

Table 1. Gloves for food services.i

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Food Safety Challenges:

Food contamination: Among the many precautionary measures that Moe’s takes to prevent food

contamination, the use of gloves is made compulsory for food preparation. At Moe’s, an unusual

complain from customer’s is regarding the portions of glove they find in their food. In a

restaurant like Moe’s where heating equipment, such as presses, are used to prepare every

product, the gloves that a food service worker uses are subjected to high temperatures. Due to

which it becomes important for gloves to be heat-resistant.

“Disposable gloves are conventionally manufactured from a mixture of polymers, typically a low

density polyethylene and high density polyethylene, because of the low cost of the materials, the

inertness of the materials to a wide range of chemicals, and the flexibility of the gloves over a

wide range of temperatures.”ii Food service industry usually uses the low density polyethylene

gloves. These gloves are susceptible heat, causing the glove to tear apart. The thin material of

the glove and the transparency makes it hard for worker’s to notice glove portions that

accidentally fall in the food. Workers also continue preparing food with tiny portions of their

gloves torn apart. This causes food to come in direct contact of the worker’s bare hands. Moe’s

must shift to high density polyethylene or vinyl gloves to prevent contamination.

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Benefits of Using Disposable Vinyl Gloves

A number of significant benefits emerge when disposable vinyl gloves are used in food service

and handling, including:

 The material of vinyl is safe to human body. The food-handling gloves in restaurants was

intended to cut down on food-borne illnesses. According to Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention,