The use of hand sanitizers around the world has increased dramatically as a result of the covid-19 pandemic which has continued to roll on in many countries. As a result of this widespread use there have been a number of questions that have come up about the safety of using hand sanitizers and one of those questions has been whether are they gluten-free and are they safe for celiacs to use.
Hand sanitizers are gluten-free and are safe for coeliacs to use for a couple of reasons, the first is that hand sanitizers do not contain gluten-based products, and second even if they did gluten is not absorbed through the skin. Therefore is not high risk so they can be you safely without any great concerns.
Hand sanitizers are usually somewhere between 60 and 70% ethanol combined with water and a small amount of a thickener to adjust the viscosity, 1 to 2% at most. The thickener used typically is made of an acrylic polymer that is derived from petrochemicals and does not contain any gluten.
The remainder of the ingredients are things that are used to affect the smell and feel of the hand sanitizer such as glycerine and assorted fragrances all of which are typically not made from gluten.
Is It Harmful To Eat With Hands Right After Using Hand Sanitizer?
The other common question that is often asked is after you have applied hand sanitizer can you eat and handle food safely? The answer to this is yes it is entirely safe to eat food right after using hand sanitizer simply because the hand sanitizers are designed to dry extremely quickly and as you can see from the description above there is very little in them that is going to be problematic as they mainly alcohol in water.
The alcohol provides the antibacterial properties associated with hand sanitizers but also produces extremely rapid drying effects which help to make the product easy to use as it quickly dissipates from your hands.
What Happens If You Put Hand Sanitizer On A Cut?
The other common question that comes up is on the off chance that hand sanitizer does contain gluten what happens if you apply it accidentally to a cut on your hands? Generally, this is safe to do provided that it is not a very deep cut though you will find that as soon as you do it that it will sting.
The reason for this is that even if there was gluten present only a very tiny amount is likely to get into your bloodstream because of the nature of the product which is extremely fast drying. This means that in all likelihood any potential gluten that was on in the product is unlikely to remain mobile for more than a few seconds and therefore the quantity that is likely to get into your bloodstream is going to be extremely low.
As a general rule, most people stay that levels of approximately 20 milligrams per day or lower of gluten in a coeliac is negligible. It is very likely that even in the event that you add a relatively large amount of hand sanitizer applied to a cut the levels of gluten that will end up in your bloodstream is almost certainly going to be below that level and therefore not it is not a significant concern.
Can Hand Sanitizer Be Use To Destroy Gluten?
Given hand sanitizers’ antiseptic properties you may also be wondering whether they can be used to apply to benches that have had gluten on them as a method of destroying gluten and removing any gluten that may be present. The answer to this is no hand sanitizer is specifically designed to kill bacteria but it will not affect a protein like gluten however applying disinfectants or sanitizers to the benches in a kitchen is absolutely not necessary.
The reason for this is that a recent 2019 study showed that taking reasonable precautions with normal cleaning products is sufficient to stop things like cross-contamination that may occur in a kitchen that is making both gluten-containing and gluten-free food.
Simply wiping the benches using conventional cleaning products such as a spray and wipe is more than sufficient to remove gluten from the bench making it safe for gluten-free foods to be prepared in the same space. As long as you take reasonable and sensible precautions that you should with normal food it means that there should be no problems at all.
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