Food workers should use utensils such as tongs, deli tissue (deli paper), spatulas, single-use gloves, or dispensing equipment to handle food from display cases. Bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food is prohibited under the FDA Food Code, and most items in a display case fall into that category.
Approved Tools for Handling Display Food
The FDA Food Code lists five acceptable barriers between your hands and ready-to-eat food:
- Tongs: Best for grabbing individual items like pastries, deli meats, or fried foods. Use a separate pair for each type of food.
- Deli tissue (deli paper): A single-use sheet of tissue used to pick up items like bagels, cookies, or rolls. Discard after each use.
- Spatulas: Useful for portioning or transferring softer items like sliced cake or casserole servings.
- Single-use gloves: Disposable gloves that act as a barrier. These must be changed frequently (more on that below).
- Dispensing equipment: Scoops, ladles, or mechanical dispensers built into the display setup.
Any of these is acceptable. The key principle is that your bare skin never touches food that won’t be cooked again before serving.
Why Bare Hand Contact Is Prohibited
Ready-to-eat food is anything edible without further cooking to make it safe. That includes cooked or prepared dishes, washed fruits and vegetables, baked goods like bread and tortillas, sushi, raw oysters, and even spices and seasonings. Since these foods go straight to the customer with no heat step to kill bacteria, any pathogens transferred from a worker’s hands can cause foodborne illness.
The FDA Food Code classifies bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food as a Priority violation, its highest enforcement category. A food establishment can apply for a special exemption from the local health authority, but it requires written procedures, employee health documentation, and prior approval. In practice, most operations simply use the barrier tools listed above.
When Bare Hands Are Allowed
You can handle food with bare hands if it will be thoroughly cooked before serving. Pizza toppings, raw meat, and recipe ingredients that will reach a safe internal temperature are common examples. If food that was meant to be cooked is touched with bare hands and then won’t be cooked, it must be discarded.
Whole, uncut raw fruits and vegetables with inedible skins or shells that the customer will peel or wash themselves are also exempt. A banana or an orange in a display is fine to touch. A sliced melon or a washed apple is not.
Glove Rules That Trip People Up
Single-use gloves are popular in food service, but they’re only effective when used correctly. You must wash and dry your hands before putting gloves on. Gloves are not a substitute for handwashing.
Change to a fresh pair whenever gloves become dirty or torn, before starting a different task, after any interruption (like answering a phone), and after handling raw meat, seafood, or poultry before touching ready-to-eat food. Wearing the same pair of gloves through multiple tasks defeats the purpose entirely, because the glove surface picks up contamination just like bare skin would.
Keeping Utensils Clean
Multi-use tools like tongs and spatulas need regular cleaning and sanitizing throughout your shift. If they’re in contact with foods that require temperature control (hot or cold holding), they must be cleaned at least every four hours. Utensils must also be cleaned each time you switch from handling raw food to ready-to-eat food, or between different types of raw animal products.
Display case utensils that stay with the same ready-to-eat food held at proper temperatures can be cleaned on a longer cycle, at least once every 24 hours, as long as the food is maintained at approved temperatures and only combined with fresh batches of the same item.
Preventing Allergen Cross-Contact
Using the same tongs to grab a peanut butter cookie and then a plain sugar cookie can transfer allergens to a customer who could have a serious reaction. The FDA recommends dedicating utensils to specific products whenever possible. Color-coded tools are one practical approach: assign one color per allergen category so workers can tell at a glance which utensils belong with which items. After use, all tools should go through a full cleaning and sanitizing procedure before being stored.
Display Case Protection Beyond Utensils
Proper handling tools are only part of the equation. The food itself must be shielded from customer contamination. Sneeze guards, packaging, lids, and enclosed display cases all serve this purpose. A sneeze guard should be positioned to intercept the line between a standing customer’s mouth (roughly 4.5 to 5 feet above the floor) and the food below. If a sneeze guard isn’t practical, placing food out of arm’s reach behind a counter or barrier works as an alternative.
Provide separate serving utensils for each item in the display, and use signs to guide customers toward proper use. Avoid topping off serving dishes by pouring fresh food over older food, which can introduce cross-contamination between batches. Replace the container instead.