Crackdown on illegal food vendors will hit organized crime, says Stanislaus official
.jpg "Stanislaus County supervisors voted Tuesday to create a task force to address unpermitted food vendors.")
After considering several reasons to justify a crackdown, Stanislaus County leaders decided Tuesday to form a task force to deal with unpermitted pop-up food vendors.
County Department of Environmental Resources staff said the vending operations create hazards by attracting customers alongside busy roads. They don’t pay permit fees, don’t train employees in safe food handling and ignore sanitation standards.
Supervisor Buck Condit, who will serve on the task force, said he’s heard brick-and-mortar restaurants complain about unfair competition from pop-up vendors that avoid the expense of permits and food safety regulations.
Supervisor Terry Withrow suggested the reason for the task force was to enforce the law against organized crime groups that traffic people who work at pop-up sites.
“For me, this is a long time coming,” Withrow said. “What turns my stomach is the human trafficking aspect. We are looking the other way as this happens.”
He said the people selling flowers and fruit on street corners are essentially slaves paying off debts to cartels that helped them enter the country.
The unanimous board vote gave approval to form the task force, which will include the county Department of Environmental Resources, Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, two community groups and cities that agree to participate.
Robert Kostlivy, county environmental resources director, said he will develop an agreement outlining the roles and responsibilities of participating entities and return to the board in September.
Officials said the task force won’t target mom-and-pop street vendors, as they usually cooperate with county food safety inspectors.
Supervisor Channce Condit supported the task force on the condition that two community organizations, such as the Latino Chamber of Commerce, are included in the effort. “I don’t want to see it turn into an anti-street-vendor policy,” he said. “They have a legal right to operate in the state of California.”
Former Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 946 in 2018, serving to decriminalize street vending in California, which raises a question about the District Attorney’s involvement with the task force. But Withrow’s comments suggest the district attorney could prosecute cases of alleged human trafficking, employee exploitation or other criminal activity.
Amanda Duran, deputy director of Merced County environmental health, was asked to talk about unpermitted food vendor enforcement in that county. She said that during enforcement operations, employees at vending sites say they are not in charge and are reluctant to furnish information.
Vehicles are traced to individuals tied to an illegal cannabis operation, Duran said.
Unlicensed vendors who usually sold food at a Bank of America parking lot in Merced were shut down several months ago as part of a countywide enforcement action.
Unhealthy conditions
Kostlivy gave a presentation showing pictures of unsanitary, illegal commissaries that store and cook food for pop-up vendors, who sometimes make tacos from el pastor meats on a spit.
A permitted commercial kitchen has stations for clean food preparation, washing and sanitizing utensils, filling water containers, disposing of wastewater and storing refrigerated foods. But not unpermitted kitchens.
Modesto and Ceres have worked with county DER on enforcement against unpermitted pop-up vendors, and county officials believe other cities will participate in the task force pilot program.
Kostlivy said he went to Oakdale to inspect an unpermitted vendor and met the property owner, who said the vendor had no permission to use the location.
Bianca Lopez of Valley Improvement Projects said the county is making assumptions about pop-up food vendors and questioned if there is evidence supporting claims about organized crime.
She noted the county didn’t present data on food-borne illness tied to the businesses.
