At a glance
Any property serving food, even a simple breakfast, must organise pest control within its food safety plan. In practice: monitoring traps at the warm spots, bait gel for cockroaches, secured stations for rodents, sealing and dated readings.
The German cockroach loves a hotel kitchen: warm machine motors, water at the dishwashing station, crumbs under the buffet. It hides in cracks a few millimetres wide and only comes out once the room is empty.
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs requires every food business operator to have pest control procedures; in France, they belong in the plan de maîtrise sanitaire. Here is how to make them practical, from a gîte serving breakfast to a hotel with a full kitchen.
Find the warm spots
Start with a floor plan and mark the places where insects find warmth and water.
- Coffee machines, toasters, drinks dispensers and their motors.
- Behind fridges and chilled display units.
- Dishwashing area, floor drains and pipe openings.
- Dry stores and the goods-in area.
- Bin store and links to the cellar or car park.
Monitoring traps and treatment
Numbered sticky traps at those points, read at every visit, show where and how many. For cockroaches, bait gel is placed in dots in cracks, away from food-contact surfaces, sometimes with an insect growth regulator. For rodents, bait goes in secured, fixed and numbered stations, never loose.
Seal and store
Every crack sealed is one hiding place fewer: joints redone around stainless-steel units, pipe openings filled, grilles on drains and vents, door sweeps on service entrances. Food is stored off the floor in closed containers; delivery boxes are unpacked and removed at once, as they often carry egg cases.
Record and react
The register holds the plan of traps and stations, visit reports, product data sheets and corrective actions. Staff note any trace in a logbook. A cockroach seen in broad daylight often means a large population already: ask for a visit without waiting for the next scheduled one.
Setting up the plan in 5 steps
For a property starting out or wanting to overhaul its system.
- 1
Step 1
Locate
Inspection of the back kitchen, stores and buffet, monitoring traps set at the warm spots.
- 2
Step 2
Map
Floor plan with sensitive areas, numbered traps and stations.
- 3
Step 3
Treat
Bait gel in dots for cockroaches, secured stations for rodents.
- 4
Step 4
Seal
Joints, pipe openings, grilles and door sweeps.
- 5
Step 5
Check
Scheduled visits, trap readings, register kept up to date.
Checklist to print
Kitchen and breakfast roomTick items off as you go or print the page: it all fits on one sheet.
Your questions
My B&B serves breakfast in my own kitchen. Does this apply to me?
Food hygiene rules apply in principle as soon as you serve food to guests. At your scale the set-up is lighter: a few monitoring traps, careful storage and a written log are often enough.
Is cockroach gel compatible with a buffet?
Yes, applied in small dots inside cracks, away from food-contact surfaces and according to the product sheet. The technician lists the treated areas in the report.
What if a guest sees a cockroach at the buffet?
Discreetly remove exposed food, clean the area, log the incident and ask for a prompt visit. If the guest mentions it, acknowledge it and explain what you are doing.
A room or kitchen to check?
Close the room or area concerned, book a 2-hour slot and receive the photo report the same day.
