United States
Hong KongGloves and bare-hand contact: what the rule actually says
Food employees may not touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands. Single-use gloves, tongs, deli tissue and spatulas are all accepted barriers. Gloves are changed when torn, when the task changes, and after handling raw animal food.
Three of the eighty questions sit under verifying no bare-hand contact, and three more under ensuring proper glove use. Six between them, which is twice what pest control is worth.
The barrier options
Gloves are one option among several, and often not the best one.
- Single-use gloves
- Tongs, forks, spatulas and scoops
- Deli tissue and wax paper
- Dispensing equipment
Tongs beat gloves for most tasks, because a utensil cannot develop a hole nobody notices and does not create the sense of protection that stops people washing their hands.
When gloves change
- When they tear or become damaged
- When the task changes
- After handling raw animal food, before touching ready-to-eat food
- After any interruption - answering the phone, touching a face, clearing a table
- After four hours of continuous use with the same task
And hands get washed at each change. Removing a glove contaminates the hand it came off, which is the step that gets skipped.
A worker in gloves who handles raw chicken, then money, then a sandwich has transferred everything twice, while never once touching food with bare hands. Gloves made it feel safe. That scenario is written into practice banks constantly.
The narrow exception
A jurisdiction may permit bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food under specific conditions - a written policy, additional controls, staff trained and health-monitored, and no food employees serving highly susceptible populations.
It is a real provision and it is not a general license. If a question offers bare-hand contact as acceptable without any of those conditions, it is wrong.
What gloves are not for
They do not go on unwashed hands. They do not get washed and reused. They are not worn from one station to the next as a matter of routine. And they are not a reason to skip the handwashing sink.
A latex allergy is worth a mention: many operations use nitrile or vinyl instead, since latex protein is itself an allergen and can transfer to food.
Cuts and bandages
A wound on the hand is covered with an impermeable bandage, then a single-use glove over the bandage. On the arm, an impermeable cover. Elsewhere, a dry, tight-fitting bandage.
An infected wound that cannot be covered restricts the employee from food and food-contact surfaces, which links this back to the exclusion and restriction rules.
Common questions
Can food workers touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands?
No, unless the jurisdiction has approved a specific written exception with additional controls. Single-use gloves, tongs, deli tissue and spatulas are all accepted barriers.
When do you change gloves?
When they tear, when the task changes, after handling raw animal food, after any interruption, and after four hours of continuous use with the same task. Wash your hands at every change.
Are tongs better than gloves?
For most tasks, yes. A utensil cannot develop an unnoticed hole and does not create the sense of protection that leads people to skip handwashing, which is the main practical failure with gloves.
Can you wash and reuse gloves?
No. Single-use means single-use. Washing them does not restore the barrier and it leaves soil in the material.
How do you handle a cut on the hand?
Cover it with an impermeable bandage and wear a single-use glove over it. An infected wound that cannot be covered restricts the employee from food and food-contact surfaces.