Global Glove Safety Day: More Than Awareness

Sept. 18 is now marked on the calendar as Global Glove Safety Day.

At first glance, it may sound like just another addition to the growing list of awareness days. But this one matters in ways that cut to the very heart of food safety. Because while we often think of gloves as protection, the truth is that many gloves used in food handling introduce risk rather than reduce it.

This day is about more than gloves, though. It is about what we choose to prevent before tragedy strikes. Food safety cannot be built solely on laws and policies that respond after the fact. True Herculean effort requires proactive leadership, and glove safety is an overlooked but essential example of that responsibility.

Why Sept. 18?

The date is intentional. On Sept. 18, 1993, my toddler son Riley died after being exposed to E. coli O157:H7. His death was the last of four in the landmark Jack in the Box outbreak, a tragedy that still shapes food safety policy and culture today.

By linking Global Glove Safety Day to this anniversary, the message is clear: food safety must not be reactive. Riley’s story is a reminder of what is at stake when we fail to ask the hard questions and act with foresight.

Sept. 18 will always be the day I lost my son. Now, it will also be a day when the world is reminded that food safety is not passive.

What's in a glove box?

Every year, more than 100 billion disposable gloves are used in the U.S. alone. Ninety percent of them are imported. The assumption is that these gloves provide a sanitary barrier between workers and food. The reality is far more troubling.

A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Food Protection in July 2024 found a shocking range of pathogens in imported gloves: Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, even anthrax. In one case, three infants died from infections linked to gloves contaminated with the fungus Aspergillus. Independent testing has shown that 46% of sampled gloves from 26 different brands carried fecal contamination before ever being opened.

Why? Because glove manufacturing often relies on polluted water sources, with no regulatory testing or oversight once the products arrive in the U.S. Workers think they are donning protection, when in reality, they may be introducing invisible hazards directly into the food supply.

The cost of false security.

Gloves contaminated at the source have already been tied to recalls. And recalls, as any business leader knows, are not just about the $10 million in average direct costs. They carry long-term reputational damage, lost sales, legal battles and sometimes criminal charges.

The deeper cost, however, is harder to put into numbers. It’s the cost of broken trust. The cost of families forever changed. The cost of doing nothing when we had the chance to act.

When a food worker puts on a glove, they (and the company that supplies them) make an unspoken promise to the public. That promise is undermined if we settle for the cheapest box rather than the safest.

Beyond awareness.

If Herculean effort in food safety means anything, it must be this: we cannot wait for laws and lawsuits to tell us where we failed. Leadership means asking what risks we are importing today and what tragedies we might already be setting in motion. That is why Global Glove Safety Day exists. It is not simply to raise awareness, but to demand intentional choices:

• Educating food workers on correct glove use, from donning to disposal.
• Sourcing from independently audited suppliers and third-party tested brands.
• Demanding durability in gloves that reduces tearing and foreign material risks.
• Challenging procurement teams to understand that “cheap” gloves are not cheaper when you count the true costs.

Equipping our heroes.

In past columns, I’ve written about celebrating food safety heroes in our workforce — the people who enforce protocols, ask hard questions and stand up for safety when others look the other way. But we cannot ask them to fight invisible threats with their bare hands — or with defective tools.

Equipping our workforce with safe gloves is not just about protecting consumers. It is about protecting the credibility of those heroes. It is about giving them the resources to fulfill the Herculean responsibility we place on their shoulders.

A day to take action.

Sept. 18 will always be the day I lost my son. Now, it will also be a day the world is reminded that food safety is not passive. It is proactive, deliberate and deeply human.

If food safety is in our hands, we must choose what we hold in them — not just on Sept. 18, but every day we touch the food that others will serve to their children.