Should a chef cook with gloves?

Microbes that can cause poisoning in visitors can transfer from the cook’s hands to the food. Therefore, it is important to maintain good hygiene in places where food is prepared. And one of them is the use of gloves.

In the “ Yod ” telegram channel we tell you how to take care of your health based on evidence-based medicine.

When should a chef definitely wear gloves?

According to SanPiN in Russia, cooks are required to wear gloves when products are not subjected to heat treatment after contact with hands. The first situation is when the staff prepares salads, assembles sandwiches, canapés and cakes. The second is serving the finished dish. Carefully placing pasta on a plate, placing egg halves in ramen or decorating with microgreens – all this must be done in protective equipment.

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Why a chef doesn’t always have to wear gloves

There are bacteria on the palms, even visually clean ones. And on disposable gloves too, because they are not sterile. However, thorough hand washing with soap removes most germs from the surface of the skin. But protective equipment only creates the illusion of cleanliness. Nobody washes the gloves – they just put them on and go cook. As a result, microorganisms and talc remain on them, with which the material is sprinkled to make it easier to pull on the hand.

According to experts from Dodo Pizza, in the kitchen of an establishment it is much easier to control hand washing than the timely change of gloves.

Even with gloves on, your hands sweat. And no matter how careful the cook is, there is a chance that drops of sweat will get into the food. At a minimum, this is unhygienic and unpleasant, and at a maximum, the dish will contain microorganisms that cause infections .

Even if everything is clean and the cook is comfortable, he may accidentally cut off a piece of a glove and not notice it. As a result, nitrile or latex, from which protective equipment is made, will end up in the dish. If ingested, these materials harden and may cause intestinal obstruction and perforation.

In addition, in most cases, food is cooked. It is boiled, fried, baked. And for almost all products, the temperature at which they are disinfected ranges from 62 to 72 °C. This means that even if the cook touched the meat or pasta with his bare hands, after heat treatment they will become harmless.

And cooking without gloves is safer for the chef himself. If you choose the wrong size of protective equipment, there is a risk of cutting your fingers. In addition, due to the dense, airtight material, irritation, acne and eczema may occur on the hands. And any pustular disease is a reason for removal from work.

What rules should be followed in a cafe to maintain cleanliness?

Rospotrebnadzor requires that catering establishments comply with a lot of rules. Visitors may notice some things themselves, especially if the kitchen is open and clearly visible:

• Cooks, bakers and sandwich makers are required to wear uniforms, which must be removed during smoking breaks.
• Staff nails must be cut short .
• Rings, bracelets and baubles on hands are prohibited.
• Cleaning is carried out by staff who do not prepare food in the establishment.
• The kitchen should have separate equipment for different tasks. This way the client can be sure that the dessert or salad vegetables were not cut with a fish knife. This is necessary so that microorganisms from the meat do not get on products that do not undergo heat treatment.
• The color of rags for different surfaces normally varies. This helps to avoid confusion between what to wipe the floors in the hall with and what to use on the cooking tables.
• Food containers must be labeled. You can use it to understand when the food was cut.
• Equipment such as mops and dustpans should have labels indicating where they are used: in the kitchen, bathrooms or lounge.
• Dishes are washed in a dishwasher : the water temperature in it is higher than in a regular tap. Industrial devices also spray plates and cups with steam.
• There should be a cleaning schedule in each room: in the hall, in the kitchen and in the toilet. Of course, it is difficult to check whether it is filled where it is prepared. But if the remaining forms are in place and are being maintained properly, this is already a “green flag”.

What to do if you notice a chef preparing a salad without gloves

First of all, you need to inform the administrator about this and leave an entry in the complaint book – it should be issued upon request.

You can also write a review on the establishment’s website, and if it doesn’t exist, in the map services. The point of this is this: you will warn other potential visitors and let the director of the establishment know about the problem. The fact is that managers of large networks sometimes have no idea what is going on at one point or another. And after the recall, most likely, you will have to deal with the problem.

If you decide to stay in the establishment, you can ask the administrator to bring a new dish. Most likely, if the place you came to admits its guilt, the food will be changed without question, and the cook will follow all the rules this time.

If something goes wrong and the complaint does not bring results, you can write to Rospotrebnadzor. There the request will be checked and a response will be sent. Most likely, the establishment will conduct an unscheduled inspectio