Question: I work with food, do i need to wear a mask or gloves during the pandemic or is handwashing enough?

Answer passage (source: WHO):
page_title: Questions relating to food businesses
section_headers: Should grocery store workers wear gloves? Masks?
section_content: Disposable Gloves
Gloves may be used by food workers but must be changed frequently and hands
must be washed between glove changes and when gloves are removed. Gloves must
be changed after carrying out non-food related activities such as
opening/closing doors by hand, and emptying bins. Food workers should be aware
that wearing gloves can allow bacteria to build up on the surface of the
hands, so hand washing is extremely important when gloves are removed to avoid
subsequent contamination of food. Food workers should not touch their mouth,
nose and eyes when wearing gloves.
Disposable gloves can give a false sense of safety and should not be used in
the food work environment as a substitute for hand washing. The COVID-19 virus
can contaminate disposable gloves in the same way it can get onto workers
hands and contact surfaces. Removal of disposable gloves can lead to
contamination of hands. Wearing disposable gloves can give you a false sense
of security and may result in staff not washing hands as frequently as
required.
Handwashing is a greater protective barrier to infection than wearing of
disposable gloves. Food businesses need to ensure adequate sanitary facilities
are provided and ensure food workers thoroughly and frequently wash their
hands. Soap and water is adequate for hand washing. Hand sanitisers can be
used as an additional measure but should not replace hand washing.
Wearing of Face Masks
WHO advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19
should be followed. Face Masks do not have to be routinely used by food
workers to protect against transmission of COVID-19. However, for some food
processing activities, such as working in abattoirs or handling cooked, ready-
to-eat foods, wearing face masks is a usual practice.
WHO recommends that face masks should be used if a person is sick with
symptoms of COVID-19 (especially coughing) or looking after someone with
suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
However, a food worker who is sick or who has symptoms of COVID-19 should not
be allowed to work in grocery stores or other food businesses and should be
excluded from work until free of symptoms or deemed fit for work by a medical
doctor.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
This answer is excellent because it gives explanations as to why gloves won’t protect from the virus, and the alternatives to wearing gloves.
This answers the question directly. It provides information and recommendation about gloves wearing for food workers in food work environment and when carrying out non-food related activities.

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent

Answer passage (source: WHO):
page_title: Questions relating to food safety authorities
section_headers: What are the lab protocols for identifying the virus in food? On surfaces?
section_content: As food has not been implicated in the transmission of COVID-19, testing of
food or food surfaces for this virus is not recommended. Frequent cleaning of
food contact surfaces with virucidal disinfectants such as 0.05% sodium
hypochlorite (NaClO) or products based on ethanol (at least 70%) should be
carried out. Alcohol-based disinfectants (ethanol, propan-2-ol, propan-1-ol)
have been shown to significantly reduce infectivity of enveloped viruses like
SARS-CoV-2, in concentrations of 70-80% with one-minute exposure time.
Chlorine-based disinfectants (sodium hypochlorite) are effective for surface
decontamination, as are disinfectants with active ingredients based on
quaternary ammonium compounds (QUATS).

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
This answer needs improvement because it doesn’t talk much about gloves at all. The answer only talks about disinfecting surfaces for food.
This information does not answer the question. This information is explaining about the transmission of Covid-19 through food and what disinfectants are effective for cleaning food contact surfaces. However, it does not provide any information on whether or not food workers need to wear masks or gloves and also recommendation on hand washing as asked in the question.

Reviewer ratings:
Could be Improved
Bad

Answer passage (source: WHO):
page_title: Q&A: Considerations for the cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19 in non-health care settings
section_headers: Are gloves recommended for the community in public spaces to protect against COVID-19, for example when going to the grocery store supermarket?
section_content: No. The use of gloves by the public in public spaces is not a recommended or
proven prevention measure. Wearing gloves in public spaces does not replace
the need for hand hygiene, nor does it offer any additional measure of
protection against the COVID-19 virus than hand hygiene. Gloves do not provide
complete protection against hand contamination, as pathogens may gain access
to the hands via small defects in gloves or by contamination of the hands
during glove removal. People can also transfer pathogens from one surface to
another by touching with gloved hands, or even transfer pathogens to the
mouth, nose, or eyes if they touch their face with gloved hands.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
This answer is excellent because it is straight to the point by saying food workers do not need to wear gloves, as well as providing an explanation as to why that is.
This does not provide any information on whether or not a person who works with food need to wear mask or gloves during the pandemic. This Covid-19 information is a recommendation for people in general who is going out in the public and thinking about wearing gloves.

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Bad