USA drops ban on bare-hand contact

THE leading restaurateurs' association in the USA believes it has persuaded the government to abandon plans to force staff to wear gloves when handling food.

Earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration worried the National Restaurant Association (NRA) by proposing a ban on what it calls "bare-hand contact" before food is served. This would have covered cooked food and meals such as salads that require no cooking, but not raw ingredients such as steak.

Now, however, the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods has told the USgovernment there is insufficient evidence to support the ban. The restaurant association now hopes that existing provision for individual states to opt for bare-hand bans will be dropped by April.

Only New York and Rhode Island have adopted a bare-hand ban, but they have been unable to enforce it. NRA president and chief executive officer Steven Anderson added that there was "no evidence that glove use has reduced the transmission of food-borne illness or lowered the number of food-borne illnesses".

The association feared enforced glove use would increase restaurateurs' costs, cause dermatitis to sensitive skins, and discourage adequate hand-washing by giving a false sense of security.

It advocates a rigorous hand-washing regime, with gloves reserved for high-risk foods like chicken, which is prone to salmonella contamination. The NRA has formally trained one million restaurant managers in these techniques.

by Angela Frewin