With the growing popularity of vegan and vegetarian diets, it is becoming more and more difficult to find good quality meat.
Eating meat has many benefits: It increases your energy levels, boosts your metabolism and makes you stronger. Meat contains all the necessary vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body needs to function properly.
Moreover, it tastes great! And if you combine it with healthy oils such as coconut oil or olive oil – even better!
However, when you’re cooking meat handling it is important as well.
In this post, we’ll talk about can you handle raw meat with nitrile gloves?
Let’s find out!
Can You Handle Raw Meat With Nitrile Gloves?
If you don’t know what nitrile gloves are used for, they are typically worn by doctors and nurses. However, chefs and cooks can also wear them so that they can handle hot pans or utensils without burning themselves.
As the name implies, the gloves are made of nitrile rubber which is a type of synthetic rubber similar to latex but not as sensitive.
Make sure your pair of nitrile gloves are powder free if you specifically want to wear them for handling raw meat.
3 Best Nitrile Gloves To Consider
1. Not Specifically Made For This But You Can
Nitrile gloves are widely used in the medical field. Nitrile gloves are made of synthetic rubber, which is different from latex.
While nitrile gloves do not contain any protein (like latex), they can still be contaminated with bacteria or viruses if not properly handled or used for their intended purpose.
It’s true that nitrile gloves can be used to handle raw meat without getting contaminated by the meat itself; however it’s not recommended to use them as food handling gloves.
Instead, use gloves that are made specifically for this purpose.
2. Go For Powder Less
There are quite a few reasons to use nitrile gloves when handling raw meat, and the top one is that they don’t allow for bacterial transfer.
Nitrile is made from synthetic rubber with no latex content, which means it doesn’t trigger allergies in most people.
It’s also resistant to chemicals and solvents, so you can clean up whatever spills or splatters onto your hands and avoid contaminating other surfaces. Nitrile gloves will not tear easily—they have a high abrasion resistance—so they can handle many kitchen tasks.
However, when you’re specifically wearing nitrile glove for raw meat make sure it’s powder less.
3. Don’t Reuse
Health officials say the rise in foodborne illnesses is directly related to the increase in people who re-use gloves when preparing and handling food and specifically meat.
The good rule of thumb to follow is this…
If you use gloves for more than 24 hours, they may be contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria.
