Why Plastic Lamps Aren’t Always Food Safe

By Jasmin Emmerson, Sales Director at Opti-Catch

When it comes to insect light traps, the choice between glass and plastic lamps isn’t just about materials – it’s about safety, performance, and compliance.

 

Choosing the Right Material for the Job

The purpose of an insect light trap is simple: to attract flying insects using ultraviolet (UV) light. For that reason, every component of the lamp must be suitable for exposure to UV. The material the lamp is made from isn’t just a design choice – it directly affects performance, safety, and reliability.

A lamp shouldn’t be made from a material that degrades when exposed to UV. Most plastics, particularly the rigid, hard types used in LED lamps, do degrade to some extent under UV exposure. The most common type, acrylic-based plastic (PMMA), is relatively UV stable, but that stability comes at the cost of brittleness.

If a plastic-bodied lamp is dropped accidentally, it can shatter and release shards that are difficult to see and impossible to detect using standard screening systems. In food handling or preparation environments, this is a serious risk. Shards of plastic pose the same contamination danger as shards of glass—and both are invisible in production settings.

For pest controllers who work regularly in food production, hospitality or catering environments, understanding these risks is essential. Even small fragments can lead to product recalls, site downtime, and serious reputational damage for clients.

 

Why Glass with FEP Coating Is the Safer Choice

A glass-bodied lamp, when coated with FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene), provides a proven, food-safe alternative. FEP is a transparent fluoropolymer that is highly UV stable and does not become brittle when exposed to UV light. It also allows the maximum amount of UV to pass through, ensuring the lamp delivers full insect-attracting performance while containing any fragments should a breakage occur.

This combination delivers two clear benefits:

• Improved food safety – The coating prevents contamination by keeping any glass or phosphor fragments contained.
• Better performance – The coating allows more UV to pass through, ensuring the trap continues to attract insects effectively.

By comparison, plastic-bodied lamps without any coating continue to pose contamination risks. In fact, the BRCGS regularly reports plastic-related product recalls, demonstrating that plastic contamination remains an ongoing issue across food production sites.

While not all plastic contamination originates from lighting, these figures highlight a broader point: plastic is not generally regarded as a safe material in food preparation environments. Many sites now aim to remove unnecessary plastics altogether because, once in the food chain, plastic fragments are as undetectable as glass and just as hazardous.

“Plastic-bodied lamps don’t just pose contamination risks – they can also limit UV performance.”

 

The UV Performance Difference

The difference between glass and plastic isn’t only about hygiene – it’s also about how well the trap performs.

When a plastic-bodied lamp degrades under UV exposure, that degradation occurs because the plastic is absorbing some of the UV energy. Any UV absorbed by the lamp body is UV that doesn’t reach the insects.

When that happens, the overall effectiveness of the trap decreases. The attraction range may be reduced, and catch performance can decline over time.

Glass, on the other hand, is completely UV stable. It doesn’t absorb or degrade under UV exposure, meaning more UV light is transmitted through to the target area. When combined with an FEP coating, glass maximises UV output for optimum fly catch results, helping pest controllers maintain compliance and confidence in their trap results.

 

Why “Food Safe” Doesn’t Always Mean Safe

Some manufacturers now market plastic-bodied lamps as “food safe” simply because they contain no glass. However, that claim doesn’t necessarily make them compliant or risk-free. Many of these claims rely on older standards written for fluorescent lamps, which only considered glass contamination.

Those definitions haven’t yet caught up with new materials and technologies. As a result, the term “food safe” can be misleading when applied to uncoated plastic. Plastic contamination is still contamination – and without a coating to retain any fragments, a plastic-bodied lamp introduces a similar foreign body risk in a different form.

True food safety requires eliminating all potential sources of contamination, not just glass. For pest controllers, that means recommending solutions that protect clients on every level: performance, hygiene, and compliance.

 

A Proven, Reliable Solution

Glass lamps coated with FEP have been protecting food and hygiene-sensitive environments since the 1990s and became standard practice across the industry in the early 2000s. Decades of use have proven the approach to be both safe and dependable.

These lamps continue to be the preferred choice in food and beverage manufacturing, medical, and pharmaceutical environments – anywhere that contamination control and reliable UV output are critical. Their proven track record demonstrates that when it comes to safety and performance, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

 

Guidance for Pest Control Professionals

For pest controllers working with food sites or hygiene-critical clients, the choice is simple:

• Glass with FEP coating – Safe, compliant, UV efficient, and trusted for decades.
• Plastic body lamps – Brittle, less effective under UV, and associated with a higher contamination risk.

Selecting the right lamp isn’t just about meeting standards; it’s about protecting the integrity of your client’s operations and ensuring their compliance with food safety expectations.

When performance, safety and reputation are on the line, FEP-coated glass remains the proven choice – delivering reliable UV attraction and long-term peace of mind for pest controllers and their customers alike.