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Some Disposable Gloves Could Pose Food Safety Risk

Four-year study by Eagle Protect and the B. Michaels Group show contamination on 50% of new disposable gloves made for food handling.

Disposable Nitrile Glove Food Handling Eagle Protect
Eagle Protect

Food safety is always a top concern for processors, and while companies can follow HACCP guidelines daily and take every precaution to ensure they’re in compliance, one area that might be overlooked is disposable gloves used for raw ingredient and product handling.

Manufacturers might think that because those gloves come new out of a box that they’re already safe for food handling, but a recent four-year study commissioned by disposable glove company Eagle Protect, and conducted by consulting agency the B. Michaels Group (BMG), showed test results with ‌human fecal indicators on 50% of new and unused gloves, together with strains of Bacillus cereus and other detected foodborne pathogens including B.anthracisListeria monocytogenesClostridioides difficileStaphylococcus aureusPseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Overall, the analysis identified more than 250 different viable microbial species on both the interior and exterior glove surfaces.

Read article   Read ProFood World's 2022 Global 250 Food and Beverage Manufacturers report.

The sample size for the study included 26 different brands and 2,800 pairs of unused gloves produced abroad and imported to the U.S. None of the gloves in the study were manufactured in North America, according to Eagle Protect, and BMG chose all the gloves tested in the study. The results were recently presented by microbiologist Barry Michaels from BMG at the International Association of Food Protection’s annual meeting in Pittsburgh.

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