HOUSTON -- Consumer complaints prompted the Houston Health Department to make surprise visits to some mobile food vendors, which are often called taco trucks.
Yvonne Walker, an inspector with the city’s health department, was accompanied by two Houston police officers as she made the visits.
After eight hours, the trio found no trucks that completely passed an inspection. The inspectors wrote more than two dozen citations and some of the vendors were forced to close up their business until the problems found could be corrected.
Most of the trucks the inspectors visited did not have a trained food manager on board. A majority of the cooks were not wearing hair nets and were not using gloves.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, that's bad hand contact,” Walker told one operator. “That's a no, no precious. Put it in the trash. We've got to wash our hands and use gloves dear.”
The Health Department found some of the trucks did not have up-to-date permits.
Some citizens called the city with complaints that the trucks never moved. The owners are required to have them cleaned daily.
