Cleanliness in the kitchen is a must for any food service location to prevent foodborne illnesses and contamination from making customers or employees sick. Preventing foodborne illness can be accomplished by following some simple tips and procedures to keep food service kitchens safe and sanitary.

Washing Hands and Changing Gloves

Hands should be washed before donning gloves. Lather for around twenty seconds and then dry with a paper towel or air dryer. Simply wearing gloves isn't enough to prevent food contamination, gloves are most effective and sanitary when hands have been washed beforehand to prevent bacteria from absorbing through the glove from the inside out.

Gloves should also be changed between tasks. If workers have been working with raw fish or meat and then move to a salad, they are putting customers at risk for serious food contamination and the affected food items should immediately be thrown out. When moving between food items, gloves should be removed, hands washed, and another pair of gloves donned to ensure cleanliness.

Prevent Cross Contamination

Cross contamination occurs when raw food products such as raw meat or other contaminated surfaces touch food before it goes out to customers. One way to prevent it is to change gloves frequently as mentioned above, but there are several other steps workers can take to help ensure it doesn’t occur.

Utensils and tableware used to prepare raw foods such as cutlery, plates, pans, and so on should not be used to prepare non-raw food items such as fruit and vegetables. Bacteria from raw food items could infect other food items if those surfaces and utensils were used.

Surfaces that were used to prepare raw food items such as counters and cutting boards should also be washed prior to being used with other items as well. Neptune gloves are ideal for washing dishes such as cutting boards and are sure to be an asset to busy kitchens during food service. Surfaces used to prepare raw food items should be washed and sanitized before further use.

Clean, Clean, Clean

There’s no such thing as too much cleaning in the food service business, so whenever something looks like it was used or you are wondering whether or not to change gloves, do it! Better safe than sorry, and this way you are sure that gloves, hands, and surfaces or utensils are clean and ready for service.

Ensure that used disposable gloves are properly disposed of after use so they don’t infect other surfaces or food products, and never reuse food service disposable gloves. They are not designed to be reused and could seriously infect other food items if they had previously been used for cleaning tasks, with raw fish or meat, or if workers had touched unsanitary surfaces such as phones or pens.

Use GloveNation’s selection of quality food service vinyl, latex,food service, nitrile, and C2 Hybrid gloves to keep food service kitchens sanitary and ready for service.