Uniforms and Protective clothing in Kitchen

The uniform of kitchen personal is designed to protect the chef from burns, scalds and heat because they are surrounded with myriad articles that can harm them. A chef mostly uses knives, heavy pots and pans, gas stoves and the work area is hot, humid and floor may become slippery at times due to spillage of water and cooking liquids like gravies, oil etc. which eventually results in accidents. Keeping the operational area of chef in mind the uniform of chef is designed to protect them from open fire and heat of high pressure gas burners, spillage of hot liquids and endure hot and humid climate of kitchen. The uniform is also designed in order to mitigate the hygiene and sanitation risk. The chef uniform includes chef cap, scarf, chef coat, chef pant, apron and shoes. Along with chef uniform chef do need to carry kitchen duster which helps them to clean table top and protects them while handling hot pots.

Here are the Uniforms and Protective clothing used in Kitchen:

Chef Cap: A person working in kitchen need to wear a cap to protect falling hair and contaminating food prepared by them. The chef caps are either made-up of paper or cloths. The paper chef cap is more hygienic as it is discarded after every use making it expansive where as cloth caps may be re-used after washing. Cloth chef caps should be made with cotton fabric as it is more fire resistant than synthetic fibbers.

Scarf: Chef Scarf is protective clothing for chef having many uses. This protective piece of cloth is worn around neck and soaks excessive swatting and prevents falling in cooked food. This is triangular in shape and may be used as elbow support in case of accidents and may be used as tunicate to prevent bleeding.

Chef Coat: The fabric of Chef Coat should be a good absorbent and insulating in property. Cotton is the most suitable material for chef coats. This fabric is important because it acts as insulation against the intense heat from stoves and ovens. The cloth is thick enough to prevent the chef from being scalded by hot liquids or spattering hot oil and thermal shocks as the chefs constantly shuttles between the cold storage areas and the hot kitchen areas. Since there are two rows of buttons, the chef can re-button the double-breasted jacket to change sides whenever a side gets soiled during the course of work during a shift.

Chef Pant: Generally the chef either uses a black trousers or black and white check pants.

Apron: Apron has duel function to perform, one is the protection of chef coat from stains and secondly the protective function i.e. protecting from the burns and scalds from spillage of boiling liquids in kitchen.

Shoes: The shoes again are a protective gear. It protects feet from fall of boiling liquids and sudden falling of sharp tools like knife etc. The shoes should be black and well polished. To prevent slipping the sole should be made of rubber. Black socks a standard in our kitchens.