A public service announcement

Today we published a story in our section about the new E. Coli 'n Spinach dish that's taking the culinary world by storm. And bringing a nasty, sometimes fatal, illness with it.
We ran the accompanying shot of a cafe employee by photographer Alan Leon. I worked several years in restaurants and thought nothing of picture, but several readers called in to express their disgust because the cook isn't wearing gloves.
Huh.
If you've never worked in a commercial kitchen, you may be under the impression that the people who handle your food are hermetically sealed into latex body suits and the kitchen is a perfectly sterile environment, preventing any possibility of contamination. Sorry to break it to you, but nobody is wearing gloves when they chop your onions, trim your steak or peel your potatoes. Only Subway "sandwich artists" do that, and that's because you're watching them. There's no law about wearing gloves. In fact, Illinois sanitation rules only prohibit employees from spitting or sneezing on the food and require them to wash their hands "thoroughly in clean water" after using the toilet. The law doesn't even say anything about using soap.
So plenty of good, clean and safe kitchen workers have managed to avoid killing people despite using their bare hands.
Just thought you should know.