Glass vs Plastic UV Lamps: Why FEP-Coated Glass Is the Food Safe Choice

• Discover the difference between glass vs plastic UV lamps in insect light traps.
• Learn why FEP-coated glass lamps are the proven food safe solution.
• Understand how plastic-bodied lamps absorb UV and pose contamination risks.
• See how glass + FEP coating delivers maximum UV performance and durability.
• Trusted by food and hygiene industries for over 30 years.
• Opti-Catch offers the only BRCGS-partnered retrofit LED lamp solution, combining safety, compliance, and performance.

Understanding the Difference

As more pest control companies move to LED technology, one key question often comes up: should insect light traps use glass or plastic UV lamps?

While plastic might sound like the safer, more modern choice, the truth is that material choice directly affects both performance and food safety. For pest controllers working in hygiene-sensitive environments, it’s essential to understand how these materials behave under UV light—and what that means for compliance.

Why the Lamp Material Matters

Insect light traps rely on ultraviolet (UV) light to attract flying insects. That means the lamp body must be stable under UV exposure.

Most plastics - especially the rigid, hard types used for LED housings - degrade to some extent when exposed to UV light. The most common example is acrylic-based (PMMA) plastic. While PMMA is relatively UV stable, it has a major downside: it’s extremely brittle.

If a plastic-bodied lamp is dropped or damaged, it can break into sharp fragments that are difficult to see and impossible to detect using standard screening equipment. In food preparation or food production environments, that creates a serious contamination risk.

Plastic shards pose the same hazard as glass—they’re clear, undetectable, and can lead to costly product recalls or compliance breaches.

Why Glass + FEP Is the Proven Food Safe Option

A glass-bodied lamp with an FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) coating is the trusted and proven alternative. FEP is a transparent fluoropolymer that is highly UV stable, allowing maximum UV transmission while providing complete containment if the lamp ever breaks.

This combination offers two key advantages:

• Improved food safety: The FEP coating captures and retains any glass or phosphor fragments within the coating, preventing contamination.
• Better UV performance: Because glass is UV stable and FEP is transparent, this design allows the maximum amount of UV light to reach the target area - ensuring reliable insect attraction.

By contrast, plastic-bodied lamps have no protective coating and continue to pose a contamination risk. According to the BRCGS, plastic contamination remains a major issue, with product recalls reported almost every month.

And while not all of these incidents stem from lighting, the pattern is clear: plastic is not considered a safe material in food preparation areas. Many sites are actively reducing or eliminating unnecessary plastic equipment for the same reason - it’s as undetectable as glass if it enters the food chain.

The UV Performance Difference

The choice of material doesn’t just affect safety - it affects performance too.

When a plastic-bodied UV lamp degrades, it does so because it’s absorbing some of the UV energy. Every bit of UV absorbed by the plastic is UV that doesn’t leave the lamp, meaning less light is emitted to attract insects.

Glass, however, is completely UV stable. It doesn’t absorb or degrade under UV exposure, so more UV passes through, resulting in better attraction and higher catch performance.

Add an FEP coating, and you have the optimal combination for maximum UV output, durability, and safety.

Why “Food Safe” Doesn’t Always Mean Food Safe

Some manufacturers describe plastic-bodied lamps as “food safe” simply because they contain no glass. However, this label can be misleading.

These claims often rely on outdated standards that were originally written for fluorescent lighting, where the only major contamination risk came from glass. Those standards haven’t evolved alongside new LED materials, meaning plastic is being presented as food safe without addressing its contamination risk.

In reality, plastic contamination is still contamination. Without a protective FEP coating, a plastic-bodied lamp can’t be considered fully compliant or food safe in environments where contamination control is critical.

A Proven, Reliable Solution

FEP-coated glass lamps have been used in food manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and hygiene-critical settings since the 1990s. This is a proven, trusted technology that’s stood the test of time.

These lamps became mainstream in the early 2000s because they worked - and they continue to be the gold standard for contamination prevention and consistent UV performance today.

At Opti-Catch, our retrofit LED insect light trap lamps follow this same principle: glass-bodied, FEP-coated, and fully shatterproof. They deliver all the energy-saving and maintenance benefits of LED while upholding the same high standards of food safety and reliability.

What This Means for Pest Controllers

For pest controllers, choosing the right lamp is about more than light output—it’s about protecting your clients’ sites, reputations, and compliance status.

• Glass + FEP coating: Safe, compliant, UV-efficient, and proven for food sites.
• Plastic body lamps: Brittle, less effective under UV, and carry contamination risks.

By specifying FEP-coated glass lamps, you can give your clients the peace of mind that their insect light traps are both effective and compliant with modern food safety expectations.

When performance, safety, and reputation are on the line, glass + FEP remains the proven standard.

Opti-Catch: The Only BRCGS-Partnered Retrofit LED Solution

Opti-Catch is proud to be the only retrofit LED lamp solution partnered with BRCGS, working together to raise awareness and improve food safety standards across the pest control industry.

This partnership is built on a shared goal - to make sure the products used by pest control professionals are safe, reliable, and built to last. By combining innovation with compliance, we’re helping pest controllers and food businesses stay confident and compliant in an industry where safety requirements are always evolving.

Learn More About Retrofitting Insect Light Traps