Eagle Protect has announced the final results of a multi-year microbial analysis of potential pathogenic glove contamination. The tests confirmed human fecal indicators on 50 percent of new and unused gloves, as well as foodborne pathogens and other microbes such as Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthracis, Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridioides difficile, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The results were recently presented at the 2022 International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) annual meeting by leading microbiologist Barry Michaels. In total, 2,800 new and unused U.S. glove imports from 26 different brands were independently tested. The analysis identified over 250 different viable microbial species on both the interior and exterior glove surfaces.

According to Eagle Protect, disposable gloves are not required to be clean or intact under FDA’s current food compliance standards, which reference only chemical content and migration standards. Additionally, there are few inspection procedures for gloves imported to the U.S. The current lack of oversight of disposable gloves jeopardizes food safety.

The study, “Validation of the Single-Use Glove Microbiome Shotgun WGS Metagenomic Analysis,” will be published following an official peer review in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Food Protection.

Eagle Protect: www.eagleprotect.com