Are Your Disposable Gloves Food Safe?

Phthalates have been shown to leach from products into the human body via ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. Because phthalate plasticizers are not chemically bound to PVC, they can easily leach and evaporate into food, particularly fatty foods, such as butter, oils, and meat—where they become mostly soluble. Phthalate plasticizers can also be absorbed through workers’ skin and quickly contaminate food products.

Exposure to DEHP has been associated with adverse reproductive, neurobehavioral, and respiratory outcomes in children and metabolic disease risk factors, such as insulin resistance in adolescents and adults.

Both DINP and DEHP have been found to adversely impact human health and have been added to the Californian Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer.

Studies conducted in Japan found that use of disposable PVC gloves during the preparation and packaging of meals was a major source of dietary intake of DEHP. The same study also demonstrated a decline in DEHP levels in prepared meals after the ban of DEHP in PVC gloves in Japan.

Food is likely contaminated with phthalates and BPA during processing from PVC in materials such as PVC (vinyl) gloves and food packaging materials.

In 2001, Japan banned PVC gloves for food handling due to the well-documented adverse effects on health. The European Union (2008) has banned the use of DEHP in food service gloves out of concern that the chemical will leach into food and be ingested.

Adverse health effects of exposure to BPA and phthalates in U.S. food and occupational settings is estimated to result in $175 billion in healthcare costs.

Vinyl Gloves and Cross-Contamination

Gloves have the potential to mitigate, transfer, or amplify cross-contamination risks.

There is a growing accumulation of scientific evidence showing vinyl gloves (over other types) are responsible for a majority of cross-contamination events in food handling related to glove use where glove type is identified.

Due to their polymeric structure, numerous studies have shown vinyl gloves have an increased permeability to bacteria and virus, and in some cases, begin leaking as soon as they are donned, increasing the risk of cross-contamination for both the glove users and the food they are handling.

Recent independent research conducted by international scientific consultant on food safety and glove expert Barry Michaels has also shown that the risk of cross-contamination via vinyl gloves when used in food handling is significant when compared to nitrile gloves.

The science involved in cross-contamination is complex, involving the physical chemistry of surfaces, soils, and pathogens. Liquid and soil transfer to and from surfaces is controlled by forces of attraction governed by the surface tension of liquids (or semi-solids) and the surface free energy of surfaces.

The surfaces of polyvinyl chloride (vinyl) gloves are more energetic than nitrile gloves, with pickup and spread thermodynamically favored. This means that food and human soil contaminants are more easily picked-up and spread over vinyl glove surfaces and anything they touch when compared to lower-stick nitrile gloves.

Published studies by independent investigators confirm that glove material and glove hydrophobicity were the most important factors influencing bacterial transfer from a contaminated surface to a gloved hand—more hydrophilic vinyl gloves favor transfer while the more hydrophobic nitrile gloves have reduced risk.

From a food safety point of view, because food worker’s gloves are in direct contact with food, cross-contamination will follow the path of least resistance, in this case favoring vinyl glove pickup and transfer. Protecting food from bacterial and viral transfer from a gloved hand is essential for food and consumer safety to reduce foodborne illness and death.

As a result of his work Michaels commented that, “Food safety managers are gambling with the odds of a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak or some other extreme event if they do not look at the science involving bacterial transfer and glove use. Conditions for cross-contamination can be disrupted by making scientifically based, food safe glove selection choices”