Chefs and bartenders in California can again handling food with their bare hands legally, under a bill passed by state lawmakers and headed to the governor's desk.

The bill would repeal what has turned out to be a greatly unpopular law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year that requires restaurant employees to use gloves or utensils when handling food headed directly to dinner plates, according to a report by the Associated Press.

From covering the rice in sushi rolls to the mint leaves in a mojito alcoholic beverage, the regulation, and similar restrictions in 41 other states, had long been promoted by regulators as a way to curb the spread of food-borne illnesses.

The original legislation garnered no opposition from restaurant industry lobbying groups or chain eateries because the no-hands approach is considered a national norm.

But independent and high-end chefs and bartenders in the Golden State argued they were caught off-guard by the new rule and said the ban disrupts well-established hand-washing routines, creates unnecessary waste through the use of disposable gloves and, ultimately, restricts their craft.

Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, told fellow lawmakers earlier in the week he didn't think the ban would have been approved, if the concerns of the food preparers had been raised.

Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, author of the original restriction, introduced the repeal bill, which he explained as a step in the ongoing evolution of the state's food code.

Pan, a pediatrician and chairman of the Assembly's health committee, said it became obvious that local health inspectors were more stringent in granting exceptions to the law than legislators intended.

Pan said he's not abandoning the regulation altogether; infact, he said he'd like to enacted another bare-hands prohibition, but next time make the law more flexible to meet the concerns of restaurateurs.

"It's not about whether you wear gloves or not," Pan said in an AP interview. "It's about how clean the surfaces [touching food] are. We need to have the conversation go back to, 'This is about food safety.'"

Under the initial law, health inspectors were not supposed to start enforcing the bare-hand ban until July 1, which is when the regulation is on track to take effect.

The latest data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates workers touching food provided the most common transmission pathway for food-originated norovirus outbreaks between 2001 and 2008.

The AP said governor's office did not immediately return a request for comment about the new repeal bill.