By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Vendors who want to set up food trucks in conjunction with the city’s upcoming Independence Day events this year must follow a slate of new regulations enacted by the state.
City administrators met with about 20 vendors to go over those new regulations during a meeting June 16 at the city’s transportation depot on West Ogden Street. The new state regulations governing mobile food trucks go into effect on July 1, and vendors planning to participate in the city’s July 4 activities will need to follow them.
Esme Esparza, city community services director, welcomed vendors who attended the meeting.
She handed out registration forms that asked vendors to indicate the name of their business and whether their business
the new state regulations governing food trucks. The meeting, hosted by the city, was held at the
city’s transportation center, 100 W. Ogden St., on June 16. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
would offer food, novelties and toys, or arts and crafts; whether or not they would be cooking on site; and if they hold a current city-issued vendor permit.
After Esparza’s introduction, Scot Carcasi, the city’s operations and compliance manager, and John Atnipp, the city’s neighborhood services director, spoke to the vendors, detailing the changes they will have to deal with regarding the new state regulations and answering questions.
Carcasi told the group, “The city will no longer issue mobile food permits beginning July 1. Those will be (issued) through the state of Texas. The application, you have to do it online, and if you do not have a current permit with the city, you can expect (the application) process to take four to six weeks.
“If you have a current permit with the city, when you submit your application, submit a copy of that (city) permit with your application, and the state will expedite your permit,” Carcasi said, adding he has “no idea what ‘expedite’ means.”
Carcasi went over why the state made the regulation changes.
“The reason this law came about is, the state wanted to give you mobile food vendors one permit you could use throughout the entire state. You no longer have to deal with Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Uvalde; now you’ll have one permit that will cover you in the whole state of Texas,” Carcasi said.
Carcasi said once a vendor submits the application for the state permit, the state will contact the vendor to set up a pre-licensing inspection.
“If you’re not licensed in the state, you’ll submit an application to the state, pay the fees, and you cannot operate, but the state will prioritize your application, and they will contact you about your licensing inspection,” Carcasi said.
Carcasi and Atnipp gave each vendor a handout detailing the changes, including the steps each vendor must follow to obtain the new statewide license. Carcasi said the booklet would be made available on the city’s website.
Carcasi said when vendors submit their application to the state, they must pay the application fee and the pre-licensing inspection fee, according to the type of license they are trying to get.
Carcasi said Type 1 licenses are for vendors selling “pre-packaged, non-time or temperature-controlled food,” deemed low-risk, such as pre-packaged ice cream or non-temperature-controlled snacks. He said the application fee for Type 1 licenses is $309, and no inspection by the state is required.
Carcasi said Type 2 licenses are for vendors selling “pre-packaged, temperature-controlled foods that need limited handling and preparation and temperature-controlled food that is prepared to order and served for immediate consumption,” such as coffee, snow cone or hot dog vendors.
The application fee for a Type 2 license is $618, and the pre-licensing inspection fee for this type of license is $400.
Carcasi said Type 3 mobile food licenses are for vendors who “prepare, cook, hold and serve the food from vending vehicle”; if you have “hot or cold hold, thawed, cooked, cooled or re-heated food,” such as might be found in a burger, barbecue or taco truck. The Type 3 application fee is $876, and the pre-inspection fee for this type of license is $500.
Carcasi said, “The biggest changes, the city doesn’t collect anything. It all goes to the state. The only local requirement is, you do have to pass your fire inspection, and they’ll give you a certificate that you can take to your pre-licensing inspection.”
Carcasi explained the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2844 to allow the state to regulate mobile food vehicles.
He said the only problem he foresees: “In order to be deemed a mobile food vehicle, your vehicle has to be mobile. The city, we have that same requirement, but we’ve been really lenient on it, allowing fixed locations, but beginning July 1, you won’t be able to leave anything in a fixed location. It must be mobile.”
Carcasi noted the closest station to Del Rio for the state inspections is Uvalde, and vendors must take their vehicle or trailer to Uvalde for those mandatory inspections.
Carcasi reviewed the enforcement provisions of the new state regulations.
He told vendors, “(The city’s) code enforcement will no longer be doing inspections on your trailers. They will not be coming by to verify if you have a permit or not. Part of the state law requirement is (your state license) must be posted in a visible location, so we may be out and they may see it or not see it. All we can do as code enforcement is report it to the state.
“The only time the health side of code enforcement will get involved is if we get notified of a serious illness from a mobile food vehicle. We are allowed to go investigate it, and we do that now, then we notify the state,” he added.
Carcasi went over documentation vendors need for their pre-licensing inspections, with Atnipp noting that one member of each mobile vendor’s team must complete an online course to be certified as a food service manager.
Atnipp told the vendors, “Whenever you are in operation, the holder of that food service manager certification has to be on-site. Everybody else has to have the food handler’s permit.”
Carcasi added another change the new law made is that the city will no longer offer the food handler’s class as an in-person option. The class must now be completed online.
Carcasi said the booklets he handed out also include a food vending vehicle inspection checklist, noting vendors will find it useful to go through the checklist before going for their state inspections.
“That way, you won’t have any surprises when you get there,” Carcasi said.
After reviewing some additional regulations, Carcasi and Atnipp fielded questions from vendors about specific aspects of the new law and encouraged mobile food vendors to review the information available on the city’s website and to call the neighborhood services department if they have specific questions.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
