Sidewalk Food Vendor Compliance Improving In Santa Barbara County, Enforcement Still Needed
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The outreach effort for Santa Barbara County’s Sidewalk Vending Ordinance has noted some improvements in the unincorporated areas of the north county.
Officials say that doesn’t mean they’ll be resting on their laurels, though.
Representatives of Environmental Health Services (EHS) remarked that compliance from sidewalk food vendors has increased in north county areas since the effort began in April, but that enforcement is still necessary especially in the south county.
In 2018 California law was changed, allowing sidewalk food vendors to sell to the public, if some rules were followed.
“The state law created a permit pathway and the methods and the requirements to do it correctly,” says Jason Johnston, Santa Barbara County’s Environmental Health Services director.
After that, Santa Barbara county inspectors saw a sharp increase in unpermitted and unsafe operations.
“They’re generally from out of the area,” says Johnston. “No food safety practices at all. Generally nothing is even on ice or any sort of refrigeration for the food being brought in from wherever they’re bringing it in from.”
Violations range from improper food storage and refrigeration, to a lack of hand-washing, cross-contamination, pest infestations, and illegal dumping of grease and waste.
In the past three years more than 200 notices have been issued to vendors without a permit.
That prompted the creation of an outreach team.
And since April this year, violations are down a lot… just 14.
With only 10 facilities shut down.
More than a thousand pounds of contaminated food has been thrown out.
“If it’s not enclosed, if it’s if it’s a pop up stand short of at a festival or some other outdoor activity, it’s not permitted,” says Johnston. “If it’s on the roadside, it’s not permitted.”
Additionally, pop-up operations along Highways 154 and 246 through the Santa Ynez Valley have been known to create traffic hazards.
“You have dust, you have vehicle traffic,” says Johnston. “People queuing right next to the roadside. You have traffic backing up. So that creates, you know, beyond the food safety side, the human safety vehicle traffic side.”
The outreach team continues to go around the county, making sure the vendors you see on the street have permits and are safe.
“And so that’s our goal is for these people to be permitted, compliant, producing safe food for their customers,” says Johnston. “You can not worry about being sick in a day or 2 or 3 days later.”
Officials say permitted stands are required to display their permits.
Residents can report unpermitted vendors to the county’s EHS offices.
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