Do Food-grade Gloves Always Work
The CEO of a glove company talks about the insider information he gave us and the analysis of the gloves they produced.
Cross-contamination from bare hands is a common condition of food poisoning. So is it better to use food-grade gloves?
The CEO of a glove company talks about the insider information he gave us and the analysis of the gloves they produced:
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry: Chemical signature test of glove raw material. Components are tested to confirm consistency in production and to ensure that there are no toxic chemicals that may affect food safety and the health of the person wearing the glove.
Physical Chemistry: Some specific types of gloves may pose a risk of pathogenic cross-contamination in ready-to-eat foods. Surface tension is tested to determine surface energy with liquids or semi-liquids. This analysis determines the potential for cross-contamination or transfer.
Microbial Analysis: It is performed to ensure the production conditions of gloves to protect against deliberate or accidental contamination.
AQL, Strength and Elongation Puncture Resistance: It is applied within the scope of structural integrity tests to ensure that gloves exceed medical-grade AGL requirements and to be able to detect pinhole defects.
In Vitro Cytotoxicity Analysis: Tests for chemicals, pesticides, microbial contaminants, endotoxins, glycols, detergents, soaps, fats and others.
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The use of gloves also has some disadvantages compared to the bare hand:
After evaluating the availability and suitability of the above-mentioned analyses, other issues need to be taken into consideration and precautions. For example,
Whether there is a need for contact areas where the personnel is supposed to wear gloves at work.
Could it be determined beforehand in case of part breakage from the glove? Or
The feeling that the hand is contaminated while the glove is worn, and therefore the possibility of contamination of the dirt to other points.
The working mechanism of human skin:
While human skin is a physical barrier to the external environment, it also acts as an immunological barrier. It recognises it and releases antimicrobial peptides (AMP) by initiating the innate immune response when encountering bacteria. AMPs directly kill target bacteria, fungi, and enveloped viruses.
At the same time, it provides a protective environment by cooperating with harmless microorganisms living on the skin. Considering that our skin is in physical contact with many surfaces during the day, we can say that our skin has a mechanism that can distinguish harmful and harmless microorganisms so that harmless microorganisms can live on the skin.
In some recent studies, it has been observed that the bacteria living on the skin, together with the host, bring together their powers against pathogenic (harmful) microorganisms.
Conclusion
It can be seen that both applications are advantageous and disadvantageous in themselves. For this reason, while making a choice about the application (about the use of gloves and bare hands), it can be decided which application is the best choice according to the conditions, taking the information we share in this section as a reference.