Every Food Manufacturer should use Metal Detectable Nitrile Gloves
Food Manufacturers should use Metal Detectable Nitrile Gloves
I believe every Food Manufacturer should be using our new Metal Detectable Nitrile Gloves. When NASA created HACCP in the 60s they set us on a never-ending journey to make food safer. One leg of that journey introduced Gloves to limit the exposure of food to the micro-organisms that live on our hands. It was a revolution for food manufacturing but it traded one problem for another. Single-use gloves produce a thin barrier, but they’re prone to snagging, ripping, and pieces detaching. Till now we’ve relied on the blue color to visually recognize when a piece has fallen into the food with various degrees of success.
The Vinyl Glove approach
Others have looked at ways to improve their chances of detecting the gloves and the pieces. They introduced a special additive into the vinyl that would allow them to be detected by metal detection systems. It worked but not well enough. The detection systems could pick up the whole gloves, but failed to pick up smaller pieces leaving us with some to be desired for.
Also, the Vinyl gloves have always been known as the least performing material. They’re brittle, they tear very easily, they’re uncomfortable to wear, and they don’t last very long. Yet in a world where Food Safety is paramount the added protection proved enough for many manufacturers to implement them. They took a large leap towards fixing the increased risk of contamination from gloves but the performance decrease when compared to the nitriles held it back from having wider appeal.
If Only We Could Merge the Two…
What if we could take the performance of the Nitrile gloves and add the detectability of the vinyls? It’s what many have asked me when they feel the vinyls for the first time: “This is great, but we use Nitrile Gloves. Do you have a Detectable Version of the Nitrile Gloves?” I can finally shout my answer the way I’ve wanted to. Our Metal Detectable Nitrile Gloves have better detectability than the vinyl gloves with all of the performance characteristics that you’ve come to enjoy from Nitriles:
Strong
Comfortable
Excellent Dexterity
More Tear and Puncture Resistant than the vinyls, latex, etc.
Allergen-Free (California Bans Latex Gloves in Food Manufacturing)
Better chemical resistance than the alternatives (Latex vs Nitrile Comparison)
FDA Approved Material
Insulation (kinda. The feedback from one customer is that they kept their hands warmer in the colder areas of the plant than their current nitrile gloves)
New Level of Foreign Contaminant Prevention
Most importantly, they add a whole new level of foreign contaminant prevention. There is a special additive within the gloves that allows them to be picked up by the metal detection and x-ray inspection systems. They’re capable of picking up the whole glove, as well as, the smaller pieces that may break off and fall into the product. Depending upon the sensitivity of your system, pieces as small as 10mm (and even smaller) are capable of consistently being detected, allowing them to be then set aside for visual inspection, preventing a potential expensive and embarrassing situation.
The Case for the Metal Detectable Nitrile Gloves
If your facility is manufacturing and producing food then you’re using gloves. In a world where we’re constantly striving to make our food safer, this is an opportunity to add another level of protection that is easy to implement and without losing any performance (unless you’re using vinyl gloves, then you’d be gaining).
See For Yourself
Send me an email with your size requests and your address (Mike@BlueSupplyCompany.com). I’m happy to send you samples (at no charge of course) and I’d like to get your thoughts and feedback (good or bad).
Thank you for reading this far. I appreciate your time,
Blue Supply Company – Taking Food Safety as serious as NASA
