Glove use policy template for restaurants and cafés

Gloves are on every food safety checklist, and they're also one of the easiest ways to look safe while not being safe. The same pair worn to slice tomatoes, take out the trash and make a sandwich protects nobody. The Food Code treats a single-use glove as a utensil: it works only when the hands under it are clean and it's used for one task.

This post gives you the rules in one table, a glove use policy to fill in, a chart of which stations use what, which glove materials suit which jobs, and a training sign-off.

General information. Your state or local health department enforces its own edition of the Food Code. Section numbers and quotes below are from the FDA Food Code 2026, including its Annex 3 (public health reasons) and Annex 7 (inspection guide).

The rules, in one table

Rule	What the Food Code says	Section
No bare hands on ready-to-eat food	Food employees "may not contact exposed, READY-TO-EAT FOOD with their bare hands and shall use suitable UTENSILS such as deli tissue, spatulas, tongs, single-use gloves, or dispensing EQUIPMENT."	§3-301.11(B)
Gloves are one option, not the only one	Tongs, spatulas, deli tissue and dispensers count too. Annex 3 adds: "single-use gloves are not required when serving food with a utensil, as this already prevents bare-hand contact."	§3-301.11(B); Annex 3
Exception: food that will be cooked	Bare hands may add a ready-to-eat ingredient to food that will be cooked in your kitchen to the Code's cooking temperatures (raw animal food), or to at least 145°F (no raw animal food), such as cheese on a pizza before it goes in the oven.	§3-301.11(D)
Exception: approved bare-hand procedure	Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food is allowed only with your health department's prior approval and written procedures on site, and never for a highly susceptible population.	§3-301.11(E)
Wash before gloving	Food employees wash their hands "Before donning gloves to initiate a task that involves working with FOOD."	§2-301.14(H)
One task	Single-use gloves "shall be used for only one task such as working with READY-TO-EAT FOOD or with raw animal FOOD and used for no other purpose."	§3-304.15(A)
Change when damaged, soiled or interrupted	Single-use gloves "shall be discarded when damaged or soiled, or contaminated when interruptions occur in the operation."	§3-304.15(C)
New in 2026: double gloving	If approved, a loose-fitting outer glove may protect an inner single-use glove, as long as the outer glove comes off without touching the inner one and the inner glove stays intact and clean.	§3-304.15(B)
Cut-resistant gloves	Slash-resistant gloves touch only food that will be cooked, unless they have a smooth, durable, nonabsorbent surface or are covered with a single-use glove.	§3-304.15(D)–(E)
Cloth gloves	Not in direct contact with food unless the food will be cooked.	§3-304.15(F)

What the inspector marks: the no-bare-hand-contact item is marked out of compliance "if one food employee is observed touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands in the absence of a prior approval and written procedures for bare hand contact," and the contamination item is marked out for "single-use gloves used for more than one task" (Annex 7, items 9 and 15).

Gloves don't replace handwashing

The Food Code's own explanation is blunt: "Single-use (disposable) gloves are not an acceptable replacement for handwashing. Single-use gloves are effective only if hands are clean before putting them on." If hands are dirty, "contamination is transferred to the outside of the gloves when putting the gloves on, making them just as likely as bare hands to spread pathogens" (Annex 3, §3-304.15).

So the order is always: wash, dry, glove, one task, gloves off, and wash again before the next pair. Our handwashing procedure covers the wash itself.

When to change gloves

Annex 3 lists three times gloves must be changed: "Between handling raw and RTE foods", "When switching tasks" and "When gloves become soiled, damaged, or contaminated." And: "Single-use disposable gloves that have been removed cannot be donned again."

In a café or restaurant, that means a new pair (after washing) when you:

Switch from raw meat, fish, poultry or eggs to anything ready to eat.
Switch tasks: from prep to the register, from sandwiches to the dish pit, from one allergen order to the next.
Touch your face, hair, phone, apron, a door handle, the trash or money.
Tear or puncture a glove, or it gets soiled.
Come back from a break, the restroom or a phone call.
Have worn the same pair long enough that it's lost its barrier (see the glove types below).

The glove use policy

Fill in the bracketed parts, print it, and put it in your handbook and in the kitchen.

[Café / restaurant name] — Glove use policy

Effective from: [date] · Person in charge of this policy: [name / role] · Reviewed: [date]

1. No bare hands on ready-to-eat food. We don't touch ready-to-eat food (food that won't be cooked again before it's served: sandwiches, salads, garnishes, pastries, bread, ice, fruit, cooked food) with bare hands. We use tongs, spatulas, deli tissue, scoops or single-use gloves. [We do / do not] have a health department-approved bare-hand contact procedure.

2. Wash first. Wash and dry hands before putting on gloves, every time.

3. One pair, one task. A pair of gloves is for one task only. Change gloves (and wash) when:

switching from raw animal food to ready-to-eat food;
changing tasks or stations;
touching anything that isn't food or a clean utensil for that task (face, phone, money, trash, door, apron);
a glove tears, is punctured or is soiled;
coming back from a break, the restroom or a call;
after [time] of continuous use at [station].

4. Never reuse. Gloves that come off go in the trash. No washing gloves, no putting a pair in an apron pocket for later.

5. The right glove for the job.

Task	Glove	Where it's kept
[Sandwich and salad assembly]	[Nitrile, blue, sizes S–XL]	[Above the sandwich station hand sink]
[Handling raw meat and fish]	[Nitrile, a different color from the ready-to-eat glove]	[Prep station]
[Quick, light tasks: a pastry from the case, a garnish]	[Tongs or deli tissue]	[Pastry case, bar]
[Cutting with a knife or mandoline]	[Cut-resistant glove, covered with a single-use glove for ready-to-eat food]	[Prep station drawer]
[Dishwashing and chemicals]	[Reusable chemical-resistant gloves, never used on food]	[Dish area]

6. Latex. [We don't use natural rubber latex gloves.]

7. Storage. Glove boxes stay in their original box, in a dry place away from chemicals and splash, at each station: [list].

8. Training. Every new food employee is trained on this policy before their first shift on a food station, and signs below.

Approved by: ………………………… Date: ……………

Which gloves for which job

Annex 3 of the 2026 Food Code compares the common glove materials. In short:

Glove type	What the Food Code says it's suited to	Watch out for
Polyethylene (PE)	"very short, low stress, simple tasks with a duration less than five minutes", such as light food assembly	Fragile, heat sensitive, tear at the seam
Vinyl (PVC)	"very short, low-stress tasks, with a duration of less than 15 minutes, with frequent replacement"	Not for hot foods or fatty foods (plasticizers can migrate); pinholes
Nitrile	Greasy foods and "precision tasks of moderate duration, usually less than one hour"	Higher cost; degrades with ketones such as acetone
Polyurethane (PU)	The most durable; "will last longer than one hour in duration"	Highest cost
Natural rubber latex	Annex 3 calls latex gloves "an occupational health hazard for food employees" because of latex allergy, dermatitis and occupational asthma	Powdered latex spreads allergens through the air

Annex 3 also reminds kitchens that "Single-use (disposable) gloves should be stored in their original package, in a dry location free from potential contamination."

Station chart

Post this by each station so nobody has to guess.

[Station name] — Gloves and utensils

What you're handling	Use	Change when
[Bread, cheese, cold cuts, vegetables for sandwiches]	[Blue nitrile gloves]	Every new task, every tear, after touching anything else
[Raw chicken for the grill]	[Black nitrile gloves]	Before touching anything ready to eat
[Ice]	[Ice scoop with a handle; never a glass or hands]	n/a
[Pastries]	[Tongs or deli tissue]	n/a

Training sign-off

Checked	✓
Washes hands before putting on gloves, every time
Picks the right glove for the station
Changes gloves between raw and ready-to-eat food
Changes gloves after touching the phone, face, money, trash
Takes gloves off without touching the outside with bare skin, throws them away
Knows where the glove boxes and hand sinks are

Employee: ………………………… Trainer: ………………………… Date: ……………

Common mistakes

What happens	Why it's a problem	Section
Gloves on, no handwash first	Dirty hands contaminate the outside of the glove	§2-301.14(H)
One pair from raw chicken to the sandwich line	Gloves used for more than one task	§3-304.15(A)
Running the register in gloves, then back to the food	Money and screens contaminate the glove	§3-304.15(A), (C)
Gloves taken off and put back on	A removed single-use glove can't be donned again	Annex 3
Bare hands on toast, garnish or ice "just this once"	Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food	§3-301.11(B)
Cut-resistant glove straight on a salad	Slash-resistant gloves on ready-to-eat food need a smooth cover or single-use glove	§3-304.15(E)

Where Mays fits

The policy on every phone. Put this policy and the station charts in a Knowledge Base folder shared with everyone, so it's in the app's Knowledge tab. See Your knowledge base.
A short quiz from your own policy. On the Pro plan, an admin can have the AI write a quiz from the policy article under Learning → Modules, review the questions, tick Compliance-critical to issue a certificate on a pass, and assign it to the kitchen roles. Pop quizzes then nudge people on shift who haven't passed it. See Creating training modules, Assigning training and Snap quizzes.
Never run out. Add an Inventory Count task for glove boxes by size to a weekly checklist, with a Min Stock for each. Anything under its minimum turns into a Restock Order task for managers. See Inventory-count and restock tasks.
A daily check. Add Glove boxes stocked at every station, hand sinks stocked to the opening checklist. See Creating a checklist template.

What Mays doesn't do: a Mays module isn't a state-approved food handler course, and a quiz is not the hands-on check, so keep the trainer's sign-off above. Mays can't see who's wearing gloves; the person in charge still watches the line.

A glove is a utensil

Wash first, one pair for one task, a fresh pair when the task changes, and the right material for the job. Trained that way, gloves protect your guests instead of just looking like they do.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll turn your glove policy into a training module with you.