Great discussion.
All of my cooking is done at home so I have the convenience of preparing everything in my kitchen, right next to the sink. I don’t use gloves, but once I get going, I leave the sink running and am constantly washing my hands before I touch anything. Leaving it running means that I am not even touching the faucet before I have cleaned my hands. Oh yeah, and lots of paper towels, not the kitchen towel.
Containers that I would normally use like spices, etc., I pour into disposable cups (somtimes mixing bowls) before I get going, so I have everything in front of me, and can even I grab the cup with dirty hands, it doesn’t matter because it’s going right into the garbage anyway.
The one great thing about constantly washing before and after touching food, is that you do seem to stay a lot healthier. Staying away from the germs that kids bring home from school doesn’t hurt either.
Interestingly enough there has been a recent outbreak of Hepatitis A (I think it’s A) attributable to food contamination, and when the news station was asking local people if they were doing anything different now, a college student (yes, a college student!) responded “Yeah, like, I am washing my hands every day now.” Every day? Imagine that! You can’t make this stuff up!
So there definitely is a need for education in this area, and obviously our schools aren’t filling it!