The pizza truck, the police officer, and the nose wipe…

EHO Story 📩

Gloves have always been a bug bear for EHOs. Not because they are inherently bad, but because of how they are used.

People treat them like a magic shield. Once they are on, the brain seems to switch off. No handwashing. No changing. No thought about what the hand has just touched.

Some customers notice, others don’t. The ones that do, may not say anything, but they may choose not to return. And sometimes an EHO is stood right there watching it happen.

Like a few weeks ago…

I was in the queue as a customer, watching the chef finish a beautiful Parma ham pizza for a police officer in the queue. Fresh dough. Wood fired. It looked and smelled delicious.

Then it happened.

The chef lifted his gloved hand and wiped his nose. A proper wipe. Then, without missing a beat, he reached straight into the oven, lifted a fresh pizza, and began decorating it with Parma ham and Parmesan.

I froze. I was stood close enough to see everything and fighting the urge to intervene.

This is the problem with gloves. They may look professional, but sometimes the behaviour that follows as a result is not.

Food Safety Tip ✅

Gloves are only safe when they are used properly. That means changed regularly and not a substitute for regular hand washing.

✔️ Change gloves regularly and between tasks

✔️ If you touch your face, hair, phone or apron or anything else, the gloves must be changed.

✔️ Gloves must never replace regular and thorough handwashing

Gloves can pick up bacteria, viruses and allergens just as easily as hands. A dirty glove is simply a dirty hand with a plastic jacket on.

The Serious Lesson

The real problem is not the glove, it is the behaviour. Gloves give a false sense of security, and food handlers seem to stop thinking. Tasks blend into each other. A nose wipe is followed by food handling without a second thought.

If you use gloves, train your team on how to use them, when to change them and why this matters.

Because a gloved hand is only as clean as the last thing it touched.