Brewery Lighting and FDA Compliance

[goldstein114]

From previous experience dealing with the FDA they are very strict on the minutia of their code/rules. While I have never run into an FDA inspector in my years brewing I rather not take my sample size as a fact. According to FDA regulations Shielded lights need to be used in Food Production areas and Shatter Resistance bulbs in storage areas (FDA Guidance and Regs). Has this ever been enforced with Breweries? My building is existing with non shielded lights as of right now but I'm going to be making some changes, so I'd rather nip this early if its an actual issue that other people have run into.

[mmussen]

Never run into that with the FDA - I have however had local health inspectors check for the same thing and require that all lighting be shielded. The local inspector wanted all lighting in storage areas shielded as well - Didn't care about shatterproof, just all lighting had to be encased for safety.

Sorry its not the best news, but I hope it helps

Cheers

[briangaylor]

Any idea if this would apply to LED lights as well? Our new lights basically are little diodes covered with a thin plastic strip to help diffuse the light. Based on how tiny the diodes are i was worried it would be a bit dim. Man was I wrong.

[mmussen]

Brian,

No idea personally. I would think that will depend a lot on where you're located and what kind of local/state inspections you may have.
One brewery I worked at had bimonthly inspections from the health department - and we ended up just making sure everything was restaurant grade (NSF) just to not have to deal with them.
Where I am currently I haven't seen a local or state inspector in over a year, and the last time they came though they didn't even look at the brewery itself.

Cheers

[lhall]

They want the light bulbs to be protected from being broken and falling into a food product. Our inspector didn't mind the high-bay lights being unprotected, but ones that were only 10' over our bottling line he wanted protected from an accidental break. They make plastic sleeves that fit over florescent tubes that will protect them from breaking.

[TGTimm]

Brian--

This will depend entirely on your local laws and inspectors. As others have said, it's usually the local health inspector that's worried about lights--we've never had a problem from FDA or USDA.

Our inspectors have been perfectly happy with the LED lights--both strip-lights (look like fluorescent fixtures) and the screw-in replacement bulb. All they care about is that the bulbs be "shatterproof", and the plastic envelopes of the LEDs seem to meet this criteria. YMMV.

[yap]

Both the FDA and my state department of agriculture (don't ask me why they are involved) dinged me for this during inspections. Not only were they concerned about bulb covers and the like, they were also concerned with how much light there was in the production areas. They went around with a light meter and tested various spots. Our lights were older fluorescent and didn't meet their standards for output. I had to replace all of my light fixtures at significant expense. Of course this was after we had already been open for a year....

They don't get around to inspecting breweries very often. I know others here in town that have been in operation for over ten years and never had a visit from FDA. We were just "lucky" I guess...

[gitchegumee]

LEDs!

LEDs are inherently shatterproof, much more energy efficient and turn on instantly in cold weather. They pay for themselves quickly. Inspector was happy to give me clean bill with them. YMMV. Good luck!

[beerguy1]

invite your local inspector over to take a look. Thats what we did he is a great guy that works well with us (AG dept. not local health they dont have jurisdiction over us). Ask the question and you will get the right answer from the source. In fact when he trains new inspectors they always visit/inspect us so the newbie can get an idea what to look for in a brewery. I would rather call in an inspector to ask questions as they cannot fine you during that time for anything that they find and you will have an opportunity to correct problems before they can cost you $$$

[TGTimm]

Unfortunately, much of this--and other compliance issues--rests with the individual inspector. We've been visited--frequently--by all of the various alphabet agencies, and sometimes a new inspector will demand something previous ones didn't, or decide that something another inspector demanded isn't needed.

I don't know what the answer to this is--it seems most agencies rotate through inspectors rather frequently--at least out here in the boonies.