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Foodservice Gloves · Dean Supply
Which Glove Do You Need?
Nitrile, vinyl, poly. They are not the same. The cheapest box is often not the cheapest glove, because you throw more of them away.
Answer four questions. We will show you the right glove, in the sizes your team wears, and you can add it all to your cart at once.
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
Glove Selector
Six Questions. Then Your Gloves.
There is no one best glove. Most kitchens need two or three different ones. Tell us every job you do and we will show a glove for each, in the sizes and colors you want.
Most kitchens need more than one glove. Pick every job you do and we will show a glove for each.
Powder free is the usual pick for kitchens. Powder can end up on the food.
Side by Side
The Five Gloves We Carry
Nitrile
The workhorse. Tough, close-fitting, handles grease. Comes in black, purple, pink and blue.
Ohio OK
Vinyl
Cheap and easy for short, gentle jobs. Not for grease or hard pulling.
Ohio OK
Cast poly
The grab-and-go glove. On, one job, in the trash. Seconds, not minutes.
Ohio OK
Latex
Great fit and stretch. But not for food, and not on other people's skin.
Not in Ohio kitchens
Reusable lined
Thick, lined and washable. For dish pits and chemicals, never for food. Ours are latex — allowed, because they do not touch food.
Ohio OKHow the Gloves Compare
Swipe the table sideways to see every material.
| Material | Nitrile | Vinyl | Cast poly | Latex | Reusable lined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Cooking, prep, meat, grease, and any job where a ripped glove is a big problem | Short, easy jobs. Cold food. Places that go through a lot of gloves. | Jobs that take seconds. Grabbing a bun. Building a sandwich. On and off fast. | Jobs with no food and no touching other people. Painting, auto work, general shop work. | Washing dishes, cleaning, and handling chemicals. Not for touching food. |
| Durability | Strongest of the throwaway gloves. Holds up to grease and does not poke through easily. | Okay for gentle work. Will rip if you pull hard or handle grease. | Weakest of the three. Made to go on, do one thing, and go in the trash. | Strong and very stretchy. It bounces back instead of tearing. | You wash it and use it again. Thick and built for cleaners. |
| Fit and feel | Fits close, like a second skin. Good grip and you can still feel what you are doing. | Looser and roomier. You feel less through your fingers. | Loose on purpose. Easy to pull on in a hurry. | The best fit and feel of any glove. You can feel almost everything through it. | Soft lining inside so it is comfortable for a long time. |
| Typical thickness | About 3 to 5 mil thick | About 3 to 4 mil thick | Very thin | About 4 to 5 mil thick | Heavy |
| Watch out for | Costs more per glove than vinyl or poly. That is the trade. | Stretches out and tears under stress. Not for meat or hot work. | Not for wearing a while, and not for anything greasy or rough. | Not for kitchens, and think twice anywhere you touch someone else's skin. | This is a cleaning glove. Keep it away from food prep. |
| Ohio food service | PermittedOK | PermittedOK | PermittedOK | Not permittedBanned | PermittedOK |
These thickness numbers are typical. They change a little by brand and style. Check the product page for the exact number on any glove you plan to buy every week. Latex is in this table because we sell it — just not for kitchens in Ohio.
What You're Paying For
What Makes a Glove Worth the Money — and What the Colors Are For
You can pull out just one
Cheap boxes give you five gloves when you wanted one. Four hit the floor or go back in after someone touched them. Those count as money you spent and did not use. A box that wastes one glove out of seven costs you a lot more than the price tag says.
It does not rip going on
If a glove splits at the thumb while you put it on, you paid for a glove you never used. Now that cook has to wash up and start over. A good glove is the same thickness everywhere, not thin at the fingertips.
It does not rip during the job
A glove that tears while someone is cutting chicken is not a small problem. That food may have to go in the trash. This is the moment a cheap glove costs you the most.
It fits the hand wearing it
Too big and it snags and drags in the food. Too small and it splits. Buy the sizes your people really wear. Half a case of the wrong size is money sitting on a shelf.
Textured fingertips grip wet food
Kitchens are wet. Wet vegetables, slippery fish, wet bowls. Gloves with texture on the fingers help you hold a knife and hold your food. Fewer drops, fewer accidents.
Look at cost per 100 gloves
Do not compare box to box. Compare price per 100 gloves. Then add in the ones you rip or drop. A glove that costs a little more but works every time usually wins.
Why so many kitchens use black
Black looks clean and sharp on the line, and it hides stains that show up on clear gloves. It also does a real job: flour, grease and juices show up against black right away, so you can see when a glove needs to come off. And a torn black glove is easy to spot in food.
Why some kitchens use hot pink
Same idea, opposite direction. If a piece of a bright pink glove tears off into a pot or a mixer, you will find it. Bright colors are also handy when you want one team or one station to use a different glove than everyone else.
Color can keep jobs separate
Give raw meat prep one color and ready-to-eat one another. Now anyone can see across the kitchen that the person plating salads is not wearing the raw chicken glove. It costs nothing and it catches mistakes.
Latex is a good glove in a shrinking number of places
Latex fits and stretches better than anything else, which is why it was the standard for years. The catch is that almost every job with gloves involves food or people. It is banned in Ohio kitchens. And if you are a barber, a nail tech or a tattoo artist, your hands are on someone else's skin all day — a client with a latex allergy can react to that, and a tattoo needle breaks the skin, which makes it worse. Where latex still makes plain sense is work with no food and no other people involved: painting, shop and auto work, general messy jobs. Ask us and we will point you at it.
Latex gloves are not allowed in Ohio kitchens. Or in seven other states.
Ohio rule 3717-1-03.2 says food places cannot use latex gloves. Nitrile, poly and vinyl are all fine. It started March 1, 2019 and covers the whole state, not just our county.
Ohio is not alone. Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon and Rhode Island have passed their own bans. New York does not ban latex but makes restaurants that use it put up a sign. If you run kitchens in more than one state, check each one.
Here is why. Latex comes from rubber trees. Tiny bits of it come off the glove and end up on whatever you touch — food, or somebody's skin. Some people react badly. Wearing latex every day can also make your own staff allergic over time. Powdered latex is worse, because the powder carries the proteins into the air.
Common Questions
Questions People Ask
Can we use latex gloves in Ohio?
No. Ohio rule 3717-1-03.2 does not allow latex gloves in food places. Nitrile, poly, and vinyl are all allowed. The rule started March 1, 2019 and covers the whole state. We sell latex for other kinds of work, but it should not be in a kitchen.
I heard the FDA banned powdered gloves. Is that true?
Only for medical gloves. In December 2016 the FDA banned powdered gloves used by doctors and nurses. That rule does not cover food gloves. So lightly powdered vinyl is still legal to sell and use in a kitchen, and we still stock it.
Even so, powder free is the better pick for most kitchens. Powder can end up on the food. With latex it is worse, because the powder carries rubber proteins into the air. Almost everything the tool above suggests is powder free.
What does "FDA compliant" mean for a food glove?
People mix up two different things. Doctor gloves are medical devices. The FDA checks them for leaks and strength before they can be sold.
Food gloves are not medical devices. They are things that touch food. The plastic they are made from has to be cleared by the FDA as safe to touch food.
What this means for you: a glove made for kitchens should say so on the box. "Exam grade" is a doctor word. It does not mean the glove is right for food.
What does mil thickness mean?
A mil is one thousandth of an inch. It tells you roughly how tough the glove is. Thicker lasts longer but you feel less through it.
The number is not the whole story. Two gloves can both say 4 mil and one still rips first, because it got thin at the fingertips.
Should I buy a pack or a case?
Buy cases in the sizes you go through fast. It costs less per glove. Buy packs for sizes only one or two people wear. A case you never finish is not a deal. The tool above shows you the price per 100 gloves so you can compare.
Do gloves mean you can skip washing hands?
No. Wash your hands before you put gloves on. Wash them again after you take them off. Change gloves between jobs and any time one rips. Gloves go on top of clean hands.
Can we wash a glove and use it again?
No. Throwaway gloves get used once and go in the trash. Do not wash them. Do not share them. The thick lined gloves are different, but those are only for cleaning, never for food.
A customer says they are allergic to latex. What do we tell them?
Tell them your kitchen does not use latex gloves. In Ohio it should not. This is a fair question, because bits of latex really can get on food and make someone sick. It is also worth checking if anything else in your kitchen has latex in it, like rubber bands or cleaning gloves.
Is latex banned outside Ohio too?
Yes, in several states. Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island have all banned latex gloves in food places. New York requires a sign if a restaurant uses them. Other states are looking at it. If you have locations in more than one state, check each one.
Does OSHA say anything about latex gloves?
Yes, but from the worker side rather than the food side. OSHA treats latex sensitivity as a workplace hazard and points employers toward non-latex options and powder-free gloves where latex is still used. So the food rules protect your customers and the OSHA guidance protects your staff. Both point the same direction.
Should different stations wear different colored gloves?
It is a cheap way to prevent mistakes. Pick one color for raw meat and a different one for ready-to-eat food. Then anyone can see at a glance if someone is wearing the wrong glove for the job they are doing. Some kitchens also give one color to cleaning staff so those gloves never end up near food.
So is latex just bad? Why do you still sell it?
Latex is not a bad glove. It fits better than anything else, it stretches instead of splitting, and you can feel more through it. It was the standard for decades for good reasons.
The problem is where gloves get used. Bits of rubber protein come off latex and end up on whatever you touch. In a kitchen that means food, which is why Ohio and seven other states banned it. But it is not only food — if you are a barber, nail tech or tattoo artist, your gloves are on someone else's skin for an hour at a time. A client with a latex allergy can react to that, and with tattooing the skin is already open, which makes a reaction worse. Most shops have moved to nitrile for exactly this reason.
Where latex still makes plain sense is work with no food and nobody else's skin involved: painting, auto and shop work, messy jobs where you want grip and stretch. We stock it for those. If you are not sure which side of that line you are on, call us.
Our cleaning gloves are latex. Is that a problem?
Usually not. The ban covers gloves used for food. A thick lined cleaning glove for the dish pit or for chemicals is not touching food, so it is fine — and a lot of them, including ours, are latex.
Two things to watch. Keep them well away from food prep so they never get used for the wrong job. And if anyone on your crew is latex sensitive, get them a non-latex pair. Wearing latex day after day is how people become allergic in the first place.
Sources: Ohio Administrative Code 3717-1-03.2 · FDA, Medical Gloves · 21 CFR Part 177, Indirect Food Additives: Polymers · FDA Retail Food Protection materials · Allergy & Asthma Network · OSHA on latex allergy · California SB 677
This page explains things in general. It is not a ruling. The health district that licenses you makes the final call.
Dean Supply · 3500 Woodland Ave
Not Sure? Come Try Some On.
Bring your team's sizes and we will hand you samples at the counter. Trying a glove beats reading about one.
Call 216-325-0994 or visit 3500 Woodland Avenue, Cleveland.
