The New A, B & Cs of Food Truck Regulation
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors recently unanimously approved a program for assigning letter grades to the region’s expanding fleet of food trucks and other mobile food operators.
Supervisor Ron Roberts, who is serving as board chairman in 2012, first brought the idea of letter grades to his colleagues in February. At that time, the board unanimously directed the county’s Department of Environmental Health, the agency that regulates restaurants and mobile food operators, to develop an inspection program that included letter grades. It was this program, in the shape of an ordinance, that the board approved.
San Diego is a hotbed of food trucks and the trend shows no signs of slowing. For example, a visitor to sdfoodtrucks.com will find a site ripe with information on the trend, offering everything from news on where the trucks are cooking to T-shirts that promote the movement.
Chairman Ron Roberts speaks to reporters next to a food truck following the Board of Supervisors vote to require an A-B-C letter grading system for food trucks.
Supervisor Ron Roberts said the time was right for change to the same A-B-C system the public relies on for restaurant safety. “With the growing culture of gourmet food trucks, now is the time to beef up the reporting by translating the inspection results into a grading system that consumers can easily access,” said Roberts.
The county Department of Environmental Health worked closely with food industry representatives on developing the new procedures.
Category: Business
