L.A. County To Consider Health Grades For Food Trucks

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will take up the issue of whether or not to give restaurant-style health grades to food trucks. The board was originally scheduled to consider the matter Tuesday but the proposal was postponed until next week.

County public health director Jonathan Fielding is recommending that the burgeoning food truck scene, reflected in the rise of the mobile-gourmet chef and even The Great Food Truck Race television show, receives the same semiannual health inspections that standing restaurants do. According to a letter by Fielding endorsing the move (PDF), the ordinance would require ...

" ... the owners of MFFs obtain annual certification, submit to semi-annual routine inspections, and provide the Department of Public Health (DPH) with current route information."

The new rule would go into effect 30 days after its approval -- if it's approved.

The grading requirement, which gives out As through Cs (or requires closure in the case of repeated failures and lower-than C scores), is the latest in a string of proposed measures that would regulate the food-truck scene.

The Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge has suggested special food-struck parking zones. And the county was also considering enforcement of a rule that would require food-truck customers to have access to bathrooms.