Selecting the best protective glove can be daunting. What material? What’s the difference between all of the gloves out there? It needs to provide the highest level of safety to protect your customers, your product and your brand. That’s a big task.

Our Eagle team is here to help make sure you select the best glove for your business. Don’t hesitate to contact us with questions. Here are the basics of disposable gloves. This will help you search for the best food handling or medical glove and decipher the spec sheets.

GLOVE MATERIAL

Nitrile:
Nitrile butadiene rubber is a synthetic, latex-free rubber. Nitrile gloves have characteristics similar to latex such as their elasticity and strength but do not contain the latex proteins people can be highly sensitive or even allergic to. We recommend nitrile gloves only for food handling for multiple food safety reasons.

Latex:
Very durable due to their high elasticity and resistance to punctures, latex gloves provide the wearer with a great fit, but improvements in nitrile have drastically closed the performance gap. 

See Eagle Protects wide range of Nitrile and Latex disposable gloves. 

Vinyl:

Made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl gloves are currently the most commonly used gloves for fast food handling or cleaning services. We have stopped sourcing vinyl gloves due to food safety and environmental risks as well as adverse health effects to the glove wearer. Read why cheap vinyl gloves are the best gloves to spread listeria.

Polyethylene:
Commonly called PE gloves, they are an inexpensive food safety solution to handling food when frequent glove changes are required (i.e. making sandwiches, serving food from a deli case, etc).

Our comparison chart helps you choose the best glove type to suit your business needs.

GLOVE SPECIFICATIONS

Glove Thickness:
This measurement is straightforward and tells you how thick the material is. A thicker glove does not necessarily indicate a stronger or more durable glove. Read do thicker gloves improve food safety to learn more.

Glove Weight:
The weight of a glove indicates the amount of material in the entire glove.

Cuff Length:
The cuff measurement is the distance from the tip of the middle finger to the end of the cuff. Depending on the task different cuff lengths are preferable, for example, if more protection is needed a longer cuff would be the better choice.

Ambidextrous:
Gloves formed to fit either hand, reduce waste and simplify ordering when compared to gloves specifically formed for right or left hands.

Textured:
Gloves generally have textured fingertips, and some are fully textured including the palm area. The texture is a roughened part of the glove which improves their handling of smooth or slippery surfaces. A diamond-textured surface is a pronounced texture to provide enhanced grip, especially in wet conditions.

Learn how to don and doff disposable gloves correctly.

GLOVE PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE QUALITIES

AQL:
The acceptable quality level refers to a quality standard for measuring pinhole defects. It is a way to quantify the level of safety barrier between workers hands and the object being handled. The lower the AQL, the fewer defects and higher quality the gloves are. Read more about using AQL to select the right glove.

Tensile Strength:
The amount of force needed to stretch a glove to its breaking point. A higher number reflects a higher quality glove material.

Ultimate Elongation:
This is the length the glove stretches before it breaks. Higher numbers represent better elasticity and a higher quality glove.

 

At Eagle Protect we pride ourselves in supplying high-quality, ethically-sourced disposable gloves. Browse our collection of gloves proven safe for food or medical handling. Our glove experts are ready to help you select the best disposable glove for your business to help your company switch to a more sustainable glove option and to reduce your own environmental impact while saving money.  Contact us today to find out more.