Bird Control for Montana Restaurants and Food Businesses

Which food rules apply in Montana?

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services explains that it regulates retail food safety through administrative rules, and that the current rules, adopted on January 1, 2015, are written to adopt most of the federal model Food Code. The department's rule document incorporates the FDA's 2013 Food Code by reference, with listed changes, and adopts the physical facilities chapter with a single addition about posting signs.

The same page tells anyone opening a retail food establishment to contact the local environmental health department. In Missoula and Ravalli counties that local office is who inspects you, and it is the right place to ask how a specific rule is applied on your site. What follows is general background, not a compliance opinion.

What does the Food Code say about pests?

The 2013 Food Code says the premises shall be maintained free of insects, rodents and other pests. It lists how: routinely inspecting incoming shipments, routinely inspecting the premises for evidence of pests, using approved control methods if pests are found, and eliminating harborage conditions. It also says dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents and other pests must be removed often enough to prevent accumulation, decomposition or the attraction of other pests.

On the building itself, the code requires perimeter walls and roofs to protect the establishment from the weather and from the entry of insects, rodents and other animals. Separately, it bars live animals from the premises, with specific exceptions. Notice how much of that is about the structure and how little is about chasing anything. The code's approach is exclusion and housekeeping first, which is also how bird work is done properly.

Are birds on a patio a violation?

We cannot answer that for your inspector, and the Food Code text we read does not address wild birds on outdoor seating by name. What it does establish is the standard the sanitarian is working from: premises free of pests, and food and food-contact surfaces protected from contamination. Birds walking tables, roosting on a pergola beam above plates, or nesting in the patio cover are hard to square with that.

The practical fixes on a patio are physical. Table tops get cleared and wiped as soon as guests leave, so there is nothing to forage. Overhead framing is netted or fitted with angled covers so there is nowhere to sit above a table. Heaters, speakers and light fittings are checked for nests before the season, since house sparrows favor exactly those cavities. Our guide to house sparrows nesting on buildings covers the species in detail.

Why do dumpsters matter so much?

Because the dumpster is usually what brought the birds to the property. The Food Code requires outside receptacles used for refuse with food residue to have tight-fitting lids, doors or covers, and to be kept covered. Its public health explanation gives the reason in plain terms: tight-fitting lids prevent the scattering of garbage by birds, the breeding of flies and the entry of rodents. It also requires the refuse storage area to be kept clean.

A lid propped open through a Saturday service undoes most of what a bird contractor installs on the roofline. So do grease bins with residue on top and overflow bags stacked beside the enclosure. If crows, magpies or pigeons are working the enclosure, fix the lid discipline first and the rest gets much easier.

What about entrances and loading docks?

The Food Code requires outer openings to be protected with tight-fitting, self-closing doors, closed windows and filled gaps, and where doors or windows are kept open it calls for screens, properly designed air curtains or other effective means. Those provisions are written for insects and rodents, but a door that closes itself keeps a starling out as well as a fly.

Docks are harder because the door is open for a reason. A design guideline published by the San Francisco Department of the Environment recommends screening exposed rafters on overhanging dock roofs, and other likely perches in semi-enclosed areas, with rust-proof mesh of three quarters of an inch. Cornell Cooperative Extension describes heavy vinyl strips hung in open doorways, which let people and equipment through while keeping birds from flying in. Either can be fitted without changing how the dock works.

The code also notes that pooled water in outdoor servicing areas attracts wild animals and birds. Drainage at the dock apron and around the enclosure is part of bird control, even though nobody thinks of it that way.

Do grocers, breweries and food plants face stricter rules?

Food manufacturers and processors work under the FDA's current good manufacturing practice rule for human food, which is separate from the retail Food Code. Its definition of a pest is specific: any objectionable animals or insects including birds, rodents, flies and larvae. It states that pests must not be allowed in any area of a food plant, and that effective measures must be taken to exclude them from manufacturing, processing, packing and holding areas.

Which set of rules covers a particular brewery, bakery or grocery depends on how the operation is licensed, and that is a question for the department or your local sanitarian. For a warehouse or production floor, a single bird inside is a problem in a way it would not be on a sidewalk, and the answer is the same: find how it got in and close that route.

Can exclusion be done without closing?

Almost always. The work is at height on the outside of the building, and it can be sequenced around service. Cleaning comes first and installation follows, so nothing is sealed over a soiled surface. We have written about scheduling, lease responsibility and what happens to the frontage in bird droppings at a commercial entrance, and that guide applies to food businesses without change.

What a food site adds is care about methods. Our commercial bird control work is physical exclusion only: netting, mesh, ledge covers and barriers. We do not use poisons or traps, and around food that restraint is a selling point for your inspector as much as for your guests. Bird dropping cleanup is done wet and contained, away from food and food-contact surfaces.

Which birds, and does it change the timing?

On most food sites in Missoula and the valley towns the birds are pigeons, starlings and house sparrows, none of which the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act covers according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's published list. That means the work is not usually tied to a season. Swallows under an awning are different, and an active nest of a protected bird has to be left until it is finished. See which birds you can remove in Montana before anyone on staff takes a broom to a nest.

What to have ready for your next inspection

The Food Code expects routine inspection of the premises for evidence of pests, so keep a simple record that shows you do it: a dated note of where birds were seen, what was cleaned, and what was installed. Photographs of the dumpster enclosure, the dock and the patio framing after the work make the point quickly.

Every job starts with the same bird mitigation assessment: species, entry points, and what draws them. The rest of the series is in the Montana Bird Control Guide.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or request a bird assessment and we will identify the species, the access points, and what will actually stop them.

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