Politics

Should Food Trucks Have a Grade?

With summer in session, food trucks are working long days with long lines. While food trucks provide food in a quick and affordable manner, the safety of of their food has come into question.

The issue of whether or not food trucks should be governed under the same letter-grading system as restaurants or not has been controversial among vendors, health department officials, and the public.

While giving a grade to food trucks will help the public know which trucks have been inspected, the letter grading of food trucks would have different requirements than those of a restauraunt.

With New York’s East Village neighborhood full of food trucks, their owners expressed different ideas regarding whether letters should be given.

“A letter would attract more customers to come because they know we are clean,” said Gustavo Gook, one of the three men who works inside the Sidewalk Tacos food truck.

Located between Washington Square South and La Guardia Place, Sidewalk Tacos provides Mexican food to people during weekdays. While Gook cooks and takes orders, customers are able to see them prepare their food from the truck window.

Tamara Ramirez, a customer waiting to place her order at Sidewalk Tacos, said that she likes the convenience of the sidewalk location because she knows that “the food is good” and that the food “seems safe to eat from.” She also said how the quesadillas, a customer favorite according to Gook, tasted like they were made with fresh ingredients.

Similarly, Edladio Franco, a worker at a nearby restaurant, was also waiting on line to place his order at the Sidewalk Tacos food truck. Franco said, “I eat around in the streets a lot. I never had a bad experience with street food. I really like this taco truck because it has everything from como tortas to cemita.”

On Monday, two friends, Noah and Rueben, who did not want to give their last names, decided to try Sidewalk Tacos for lunch. Noah said, “We do not really prefer food trucks compared to restaurants. Rueben added, “Food trucks should be graded like restaurants because customers have the right to know since they are eating from it.”

“I don’t really care if food trucks have a grade as long as the food is good,” said Max, another Sidewalk Tacos customer who was buying tacos with a group of friends during his lunch hour.

On Tuesday, Chelsea Schneider was grabbing an early lunch at Sidewalk Tacos and said that the gourmet food trucks today are cleaner than they were a couple of years ago.

“Of course I want the workers to wash their hands and to be clean, but I honestly think that most of the trucks these days are safe to eat from so I don’t really think food trucks need to have a letter grade,” said Schneider.

With some customers and food truck owners showing concern on the issue of having a letter-grading system for food trucks, state lawmakers have taken action to improve the lack of health regulations imposed on food trucks and carts.

Recently this April, a bill sponsored by Senator Jose Peralta of Queens and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo of Bronx would require street vendors to display the grades on their trucks and carts.

The bill was developed to address the issues between restaurants and food truck vendors. Although the bill was cleared by the Senate Cities Committee, the bill has not moved out of the committee in the Assembly.

Schneider said, “Even though I don’t think a letter grade is necessary, I think it will make customers more comfortable eating from food trucks.”

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