Nitrile vs vinyl gloves: which film for the job

You have butter on the board, or a tray of raw mince, and the clear gloves in the drawer look like the obvious pair. Nitrile vs vinyl gloves is the question underneath that drawer, and a third film is usually in the same cupboard: loose polyethylene. The clear fitted pair is vinyl, or PVC sold as a food glove. The baggy pair is polyethylene. Both get bought for oily work.

Oil, fat and a twisting grip are where those two films give way, while nitrile is the one that stretches. Peter F. read the disposable-glove listings on amazon.co.uk on 20 October 2026, plus public UK notes on food gloves. We did not lab-test a glove. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices are that shelf, in GBP, and they move.

The twelve boxes, with the shared review counts called out, are on the disposable gloves comparison. Packs of 100 are on the 100-count disposable gloves comparison. A long spell at a hot sink is a different product, on the reusable rubber gloves comparison.

In short

Nitrile is the film when the glove must stretch or meet oil and fat. Vinyl, including the PVC boxes, is for a short task with little force. Polyethylene is the loose 500-count pack you change often, and it is the weakest of the three. None of these listings includes an EN 455 report, and a food-safe bullet is not a certificate.

Nitrile vs vinyl gloves: three films

This shelf has three films. Nine listings are nitrile. Two are clear fitted vinyl or PVC: OKIAAS, material field polyvinyl chloride, and GLOVEMAN vinyl. One is polyethylene: Brandon-super, 500 loose food gloves in one size. No natural-rubber latex is in the set. Clear fitted gloves are vinyl or PVC. Clear loose gloves are polyethylene. If you typed "are clear food prep gloves nitrile", the answer on this shelf is no.

Which disposable glove material you need follows the job, then the fit, then a thickness you can believe. Several UK reviews say the marked size runs small, so go one size up. The set is ambidextrous. A mil is a thousandth of an inch, about 0.025 mm. Use a thickness only when the mil and the millimetre agree. OKIAAS at 0.08 mm and 3 mil is a light vinyl figure. Brandon-super's 0.7 mm on a 200 g pack of 500 is not.

Black is a colour, not a thicker film. PRAIMA black is 0.1 mm, and reviewers still call it thin. Real Touch black large prints 8.5 mil and 0.22 mm. Those figures agree, so that box of 50 is the heavy end. Xtremeauto orange states no mil. Do not add by Amazon's 4.6 from 9,310, which sits on both medium and large, and do not read 0.3 g or 0.35 g as a glove weight.

Nitrile when the glove must stretch or meet oil

Choose latex-free nitrile when the glove has to cross the knuckles or meet oil, grease or a twisting grip. It is the default on this shelf for that job, latex-free because the film is synthetic, not because a clinician has tested your skin. Reviewers who compare it with vinyl say it goes on more easily and feels less baggy. That comment sits on the PRAIMA sample, shared between the medium and large boxes.

Thin nitrile is still thin. by Amazon blue large is £4.41 for 100, about 4 pence a glove, with no thickness stated, and reviews call it adequate rather than thick. 1ABOVE at 0.1 mm is called thick by one buyer and quick to rip by others. UNIGLOVES, £11.30 for 100, states 0.08 mm and an AQL bullet, which is not the test report. Real Touch at £6.99 for 50 is about 14 pence a glove.

NHS Wales and the NHS Supply Chain cite at least 6 N force at break for nitrile examination gloves, against 3.6 N for vinyl or polyethylene, if tested to that method. These files do not include that report, so 6 N is the bar, not a result for any box here. A chemical-resistant tick is not an EN ISO 374 type. S101 says no permeation test covers more than eight hours, and you bin a single-use glove when it comes off.

For car work where thin nitrile already splits at the fingertip, the top pick is Xtremeauto orange large, ASIN B0BQF2V83S, 50 gloves at £11.99, 4.7 from 957 reviews, with a raised diamond grip. The listing calls them extra thick and gives no mil. Skip that box for a ten-minute kitchen job where a thin blue nitrile already fits.

When vinyl gloves meet oily food

Vinyl is enough for a short, low-force task: hair colour, a dry wipe, polishing, or a few minutes on a dry filling. Grip, twist, butter and raw mince are the mismatch. Nisbets calls vinyl the lower puncture and chemical resistance option for short, low-hazard tasks. firstaid.co.uk, a retailer guide rather than a test of these boxes, says vinyl plasticisers can move into fatty food and treats nitrile as the tighter default. PVC food gloves here are the same family.

OKIAAS clear medium, ASIN B08PK91KBG, is polyvinyl chloride, £11.99 for 100, 4.5 from 806 reviews, at 0.08 mm and 3 mil. A non-plastic bullet does not change that field. Reviewers say the wrist is loose and the gloves are not a fluid seal. GLOVEMAN clear medium, ASIN B014RGS48C, is £3.96 for 100, 4.6 from 11,611 reviews, uncoated, at 0.05 mm, about 4 pence a glove, the thinnest stated figure here. A later smaller box is a fit problem, not a grease glove.

OKIAAS is about 12 pence a glove, the same order of money as UNIGLOVES nitrile at £11.30 for 100. Oily work makes the dearer clear box the expensive way to pick the wrong film. A short dry job is where GLOVEMAN costs less. Both care lines say hand wash. HSE says throw single-use gloves away when they come off. Polyco Shield GD09 is not recommended for fatty foods. That line is for GD09, not a test of OKIAAS or GLOVEMAN. Butter, oil or raw mince means nitrile, even when the box says food grade.

When polyethylene gloves are enough

Polyethylene disposable gloves are the third film, and the useful window is shorter. Brandon-super is 500 loose clear gloves, one size, at £9.99, about 2 pence a glove. The listing is 4.3 from 18,131 reviews. The written sample is heavily from outside the UK, so do not read that count as 18,000 British reviews of a strong glove. They are called plastic food gloves and latex-free, and not for washing.

Cooks use them for raw chicken, baking and a quick change. Fingertips go while crushing cabbage, they slip off, and liquid gets in. Waterproof flags contradict each other, and the 0.7 mm figure does not belong on a 200 g pack of 500. SMI's point: the film rips, so change it often and do not ask it to grip. For a letter size, a cuff that stays up, or a thickness you can quote, start again with nitrile. A 500-count is not a box of 100.

What this page will not certify

A food-grade bullet is the seller's sentence, not a declaration of compliance. None of these files shows an EN 1186 report. Vinyl chloride limits in the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012 do not test OKIAAS, GLOVEMAN or Brandon-super. UK food handlers are not under a legal duty to wear gloves. Bromley Council and the Food Standards Agency's Safer Food, Better Business put washing first. Wash before the glove goes on and after it comes off, change between raw and ready-to-eat food, and bin a torn glove.

None of these boxes is shown as EN 455, sterile, UKCA or CE certified. Puncture-proof and chemical-resistant ticks are not an EN 388 cut level or an EN ISO 374 type. Latex-free addresses natural-rubber latex, not the accelerators used to vulcanise nitrile, and it does not transfer to a rubber gauntlet. The orange diamond-grip box is for car work where thin nitrile splits. Call a professional for a COSHH assessment on a solvent, a dermatitis that is not settling, or a food business using gloves instead of washing. A retail box is not an NHS examination glove because the title says medical.