Arent fast food workers suppose to wear gloves?

Question

Recently at all the fast food places i've went into, i dont see the guys handling the patties and making the burgers wearing gloves. Now im asking because i got the stomach flu not too long ago. And im sure this was the cause. So my question is, werent they always required to wear gloves?

Answer 1

okay. people who handle money, dont wear gloves.

people who are on fries and product dont wear gloves, bc fries and nuggets are in bag, so they dont touch it, and for the fried chicken, dont need gloves, bc all the germs or whatever are going to get burned out. for grilled chicken, need to wear gloves. after they are cooked, you are not supposed to touch the chicken product...even if u have gloves...you are supposed to use the tongs that are provided.

people on grill handling meat...they are not supposed to wear gloves, bc they are at the grill all day, and the gloves can be melted into the food. grill people before touching anything other than their grill tools, they always wash hands bc of the blood from the meat.

sandwich makers always wear gloves, and can not handle meat, or can not handle money.

this is from wendy's.

about mcdonalds...i heard they wash their hands and they dont use gloves. i remember one of my friends tried calling the corporate office about it, and they said they dont need to wear gloves.

Answer 2

Although it's frowned upon for a fast food restaurant to not make their employees wear gloves, it's not actually a legal requirement. The only thing that may put your mind at rest, is that there are plenty of health and safety regualtions to do with hand washing, and each employee is told to wash their hands hourly, or after every task! Hope this helped :)

Answer 3

Well I actually work at a fast food resteruant. And the reason for having no gloves is because do you know how much plastic or latex we would have to go through.

You're not supposed to cross cantaminate food. So if your wearing the same gloves that you just made a burger with to make a salad then guess what?

And even in high quality resteruants they dont wear gloves, so its apparent that its just that particular resteruant your going to. At my place we wash hands to the point of obsession.

Answer 4

I work for McDonald's and they are very emphatic about wearing gloves. We have two types of gloves, the clear latex kind that fit very tightly, and then we have the looser blue plastic disposable gloves which you can wear over the other gloves. We slip on the blue gloves over the regular gloves to handle the burgers, grilled chicken, eggs, ham, and steak. After we put these on the grills, we can quickly slip them off and still have gloves on if we need them...We also make it mandatory for our sandwich assemblers to wear gloves as well as anyone making salads, or having to handle any of our food products..And we also have a handwashing signal that goes off every hour which prompts us to wash our hands. The glove rules mostly apply to your state or local health laws and are not mandatory unless stated, but most places are going ahead with making it mandatory.

Answer 5

The answer to your question depends largely upon what state you reside in. Some states have rather lenient rules in terms of food handling and food preparation while others are much more stringent.

I live in Washington State. As well, I'm a trained chef. Washington State requires, "No bare hand contact with ready to eat foods." Ready to eat foods are defined as foods that will not be cooked/recooked before going to the customer.

Even though Washington State restaurant employees are required, by state health code, to wear gloves when handling food that will be going directly to the customers, it's not always feasible to do so. We are trained to ensure that we are washing our hands as often as possible - after smoking, after using the bathroom, after leaving the kitchen (for any reason), after handling raw meat... In the middle of a rush, it becomes virtually impossible to change gloves after every single item.

Besides... I'd trust most restaurants. ;) Compared to the things I've seen people do in their own kitchens at home, restaurants are much safer.

Answer 6

If he had worn gloves would they have been clean. Gloves are not need in a restaurant, proper hand washing is. Hospital workers are required to wear gloves when dealing with bodily fluids(urine, feces and blood). I know because I work in both fields. Who said your "stomach flu" was caused from the restaurant, you could have gotten something from the supermarket that had been cross contaminated or made something in your own home that wasn't cooked properly.

Answer 7

Yes and no, depends on the situation. They must use gloves if they have direct contact with the food like making sandwiches, burritos or pizza. But if serving food with tongs or spoons, they don't need to use gloves.

When comes to cooking, they must use glove when placing the meat or patties to the grill but they can take it off while flipping it. Same goes with prepping, they must wear gloves.

Answer 8

I worked at Wendie's as a teenager.

When wearing gloves, my hands would sweat and the powder would turn to a liquid form. Its not comfortable to have wet plastic sticking to your hands. I know its gross but I took them off when I could get away with it. Teenagers are somewhat selfish.

Also there were times where I was working the cash register and making the food at the same time because everyone else was in the back smoking.

Answer 9

I think it depends on the policy of the restaurant. If people wash their hands I'm totally fine with it. After all, you can get a glove dirty too.

If it makes you feel better, these two sources I just read say that people get the flu when an infected person sneezes and you breathe in the droplets that are in the air and so forth. They didn't mention food.
http://www.gilead.com/patient_care
http://kalcounty.com/php/influenza_should_know.html

I hope you feel better soon.

Answer 10

That's such a good question bc I thought so too. I grosses me out to think someones hand were allover my food. That's why I never eat fast food. I'd rather go to the supermarket and some food there.