The Gloves Used At Fast Food Chains May Be Harming Your Health

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fast food gloves
fast food gloves

It’s no secret that fast food is bad for us. However, we may not realize just how bad it really is. According to a new discovery made by the Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging, a national group of environmental organizations, a chemical in the plastic gloves worn by fast food workers is incredibly dangerous to human reproductive health. Yikes.

The Coalition sampled and tested 123 plastic gloves from 32 top glove distributors that are used in 15 popular fast food chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, ad Burger King, within the U.S. They found that over two thirds of fast food chains surveyed use vinyl gloves that contain ortho-phthalates, chemicals that have been shown to harm reproductive health and brain development.

Vinyl (PVC) gloves that contain phthalates are currently highly restricted in Europe and Japan and were recently banned by the state of Maine.

Furthermore, one in seven gloves tested by the Coalition contained phthalates, and one third of the top glove distributors still sold gloves made with phthalates. And this is really bad news to U.S. fast food consumers.

“Phthalates exposure in utero is linked to genital malformations in baby boys, infertility later in life, and ADHD diagnoses in children,” the Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging explains in the study.

They also note that over 750,000 women of childbearing age are exposed to dangerous levels of phthalates each day in the U.S.

Specifically, the Coalition found four independent phthalates in vinyl globes: widely-banned DEHP, DINP, DIDP, and DPHP, each of which have raised concern in the science community about possible hormone disruption.

“Scientists are also raising early warnings about the common phthalate alternative, known as DOTP (or DEHT), which we found in 6 out of 7 vinyl gloves tested,” the Coalition reports. Human exposure to DOTP is expected to increase, and with that more hormone disruption among humans can be expected.

So, what are fast food chains and other restaurants to do?

The Coalition recommends ditching vinyl gloves altogether and opting for more frequent hand washing or having employees wear gloves made with polyethylene plastic, which does not contain chemical softeners.

Currently Panera Bread and Subway are only using polyethylene gloves. And four out of five gloves from Starbucks were made with polyethylene.

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To read the entire report on vinyl gloves from the Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging, you can click here. The bottom line is that it’s up to fast food chains and other restaurants to nix the use of vinyl gloves for the safety of their consumers and employees.

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Plus, limiting the use of plastic gloves within restaurants can drastically reduce the amount of single-use plastic currently plaguing our environment.

It’ll take a lot of trust to make sure employees are keeping their hands clean, but it’s a risk worth taking now knowing how toxic those vinyl gloves can be.

Although, some people are definitely not down to live in a world where plastic gloves don’t exist anymore. And TBH, we get it.

We don’t know where those hands have been. It makes us nervous, too.

If we were to live in a world without plastic gloves, then it would be up to the managers to make sure the staff is keeping things as clean as possible. Otherwise, there will be some very unhappy (and potentially sick) customers.

Smart. But also, the future may not be on these people’s side.

As many would argue, hey, at least he’s wearing gloves. Right?

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but gloves are probably obsolete in many of your favorite non-fast food restaurants. In fact, the CDC found that those who do wear gloves are less likely to wash their hands throughout the day than those who don’t.

Plus, kitchen staff who wear gloves are more likely to cross contaminate because they do not change their gloves in between activities. Therefore, wearing gloves actually increases the chance of spreading germs and bacteria.

Will a gloveless land mean Darwinism will all of the sudden kickstart into high gear? Imagine.

Now knowing that vinyl gloves are toxic, are you still weirded out by the idea of ditching gloves in fast food kitchens? We’re on the fence.

Switching to a greener, healthier alternative glove, like these plant-based gloves from Vegware, could be the way to go. Take note, fast food chains of America.

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