Wearing gloves can keep food safe by serving as a barrier from what our bare hands should not touch.
Harmful bacteria that cause food poisoning can be transferred through hands by touching a contaminated food or object and then touching a clean food. In the food safety context, this scenario is called cross contamination.
Cross contamination is when the harmful bacteria transfer from a food to other food, utensils, cutting boards and other kitchen materials if they are poorly handled. This especially happens when handling raw meat, poultry, and seafood because they are known to be potentially hazardous food – food that support harmful bacteria to grow. For example: Touching raw meat can facilitate the transfer of harmful bacteria from the raw meat to the fresh fruit via touching. Hence, washing of hands thoroughly in between handling of food is an important action to prevent cross contamination.
Gloves are often used in the food industry especially in preparing ready-to-eat food. However there are points to remember to utilized the purpose of the gloves in maintaining food safety.
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Keywords: gloves, food safety, cross contamination
