Glass and Brittle Plastic Control in Cricket Flour Facilities: GMP Requirement

FDA GMP inspections cite glass and brittle plastic control deficiencies in approximately 15% of food facility inspections. It's one of those requirements that seems minor until you have a consumer find a glass fragment in a bag of cricket flour, at which point it becomes the most important thing you've ever dealt with. A documented glass and brittle plastic control program is both a compliance requirement and a practical food safety tool.

For cricket flour facilities, glass and brittle plastic control is relevant because production environments often include glass light fixtures, instrument panels with brittle covers, glass containers used in sampling, and plastic bins that can crack. Any of these can introduce foreign material into product if they're not inventoried and managed.

TL;DR

• FDA GMP inspections cite glass and brittle plastic control deficiencies in approximately 15% of food facility inspections.
• Keep completed inspection logs for at least 2 years.
• Deficiencies in glass and brittle plastic control are cited in approximately 15% of food facility GMP inspections.
• Keep these inspection records for at least 2 years.
• A documented glass and brittle plastic control program is both a compliance requirement and a practical food safety tool.
• Inspections should occur before each production run at minimum.

Breakage response procedure: A documented response when any inventoried item breaks.

• Replace glass-faced instruments with electronic displays where practical.

What Glass and Brittle Plastic Control Requires

A glass and brittle plastic (GBP) control program has three components:

Inventory: A documented list of all glass and hard brittle plastic items in your production and processing areas - their location, purpose, and current condition.

Monitoring: Regular inspection of all inventoried items to verify they are intact. Inspections should occur before each production run at minimum.

Breakage response procedure: A documented response when any inventoried item breaks. This is the critical piece - the procedure for what happens when glass breaks tells you whether your program actually protects product.

Building Your Glass and Brittle Plastic Inventory

Walk through your entire production and processing area and list every glass or hard brittle plastic item you find. Common items in cricket flour facilities:

Glass:

• Overhead light fixtures (glass bulbs, glass covers)
• Instrument gauges with glass faces (thermometers, pressure gauges)
• Glass containers used for samples or reference solutions
• Windows and glass panels in production areas
• Laboratory glassware if testing is done on-site

Hard Brittle Plastic:

• Light tube covers (acrylic or polycarbonate)
• Instrument covers and display panels
• Brittle plastic utensils or tools
• Hard plastic bins that are cracked or brittle with age
• Sampling containers

For each item, record: location, description, material type, current condition (intact/cracked/damaged), and the date of the last inspection.

The Goal: Minimize and Protect

Once you have your inventory, your goal is to minimize the number of glass and brittle items in your production areas and protect what remains.

Minimize: Replace glass light bulbs with LED lights that have shatterproof covers. Replace glass-faced instruments with electronic displays where practical. Move glass containers out of production areas when not in active use.

Protect: Cover remaining glass and brittle plastic items where product is present. Shatterproof lighting shields over overhead fixtures prevent bulb fragments from falling into product even if a bulb breaks. Keep glass covers on instrument panels.

Inspect: Before each production run, verify that all inventoried items are intact. This inspection takes a few minutes and creates the monitoring record required by your GBP program.

Breakage Response Procedure

When glass or brittle plastic breaks in a production area, stop production. The response procedure:

1. Secure the area: Keep personnel away from the breakage area
2. Isolate product: Hold all product in the production area since the last intact inspection
3. Document: Record the time, location, and description of the breakage
4. Thorough cleanup: Pick up all visible fragments by hand, then sweep, then vacuum if available. Pay attention to hard-to-reach areas where fragments can travel
5. Inspect for completeness: Verify all pieces of the broken item have been accounted for
6. Product disposition: Decide whether held product can be released (consider whether any product was open and exposed near the breakage location) or must be destroyed
7. Document the decision and its basis: Keep this record in your production log

The documentation of the breakage, the response, and the disposition decision is what turns a breakage incident from a compliance problem into a compliance demonstration.

Template: Glass and Brittle Plastic Inventory Form

| Item | Location | Material | Purpose | Condition | Last Inspected | Inspector |

|------|----------|----------|---------|-----------|----------------|-----------|

| Overhead light fixture | Processing room, ceiling | Glass/LED | Lighting | Intact, shatterproof shield in place | [date] | [initials] |

| Thermometer cover | Drying room, wall | Polycarbonate | Temperature display | Intact | [date] | [initials] |

| Sample collection jar | Processing prep area | Glass | Sampling | Stored in cabinet when not in use | [date] | [initials] |

Adapt this table for your facility. Keep completed inspection logs for at least 2 years.

For your overall FDA compliance program, see cricket flour FDA compliance. For the compliance checklist, see FDA compliance checklist for cricket flour.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a glass and brittle plastic control program?

A glass and brittle plastic (GBP) control program is a documented food safety procedure that inventories all glass and hard brittle plastic items in a food production facility, establishes regular inspection of those items, and defines the response when breakage occurs. The program exists to prevent glass or plastic fragments from contaminating food product if a glass fixture, container, or hard plastic item breaks in the production area. It's a GMP requirement under FDA's food facility regulations and a standard element of food safety programs. For cricket flour facilities, the primary items typically covered include overhead light fixtures, instrument panels, and any glass containers used in the production area.

Does FDA require glass control in a cricket flour facility?

Yes. FDA's Good Manufacturing Practice regulations (21 CFR Part 117 Subpart B) require that food facilities take measures to protect food from physical contamination, and glass control is specifically referenced as a required practice. FDA inspectors check for evidence of a glass and brittle plastic control program, including an inventory of glass items and inspection records. Deficiencies in glass and brittle plastic control are cited in approximately 15% of food facility GMP inspections. The good news is that compliance is not expensive - it requires a walkthrough to build the inventory, a simple inspection form, and a documented breakage response procedure.

How do I document glass and brittle plastic in my cricket flour processing area?

Build a written inventory of all glass and hard brittle plastic items in your processing area, noting location, condition, and the date each was last inspected. Create a simple pre-production inspection form where whoever opens the facility each day checks each inventoried item and records the date and result. Keep these inspection records for at least 2 years. If a breakage occurs, document it in a breakage incident log: date, time, what broke, where, what product was in the area, how the cleanup was conducted, and what happened to any held product. This documentation package - inventory, inspection logs, and breakage records - demonstrates to FDA that your glass control program is operational.

How does CricketOps help track the metrics described in this article?

CricketOps provides bin-level logging for the variables that drive production outcomes -- feed inputs, environmental conditions, mortality events, and harvest results. Rather than maintaining these records in separate spreadsheets, you can view performance trends across bins and over time to identify which operational variables correlate with better outcomes in your specific facility.

Where can I find industry benchmarks to compare my operation's performance?

The North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture (NACIA) publishes periodic industry reports with production benchmarks. University extension programs in agricultural states, including the University of Georgia and University of Florida IFAS, occasionally publish insect farming production data. Industry conferences hosted by the Entomological Society of America and the Insects to Feed the World symposium series are additional sources of peer benchmarking data.

What is the biggest operational mistake cricket farmers make in their first year?

Expanding bin count before achieving consistent FCR and mortality targets in existing bins is the most common and costly first-year mistake. At 5-10 bins, problems are manageable. At 30-50 bins, the same proportional problems represent much larger financial losses. Most experienced cricket farmers recommend holding expansion until you have three consecutive production cycles hitting your FCR and mortality targets.

Sources

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) -- Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security
• North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture (NACIA)
• Entomological Society of America
• University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
• Journal of Insects as Food and Feed (Wageningen Academic Publishers)

Get Started with CricketOps

The practices covered in this article are easier to apply consistently when they are supported by organized production data. CricketOps gives cricket farmers the tools to track what matters -- by bin, by batch, and over time. Start your next production cycle in CricketOps and see how organized data changes the way you manage your operation.