What’s in your lunch wagon?
Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services wrapped up a three-day blitz Thursday in northern Miami-Dade County where it seized and destroyed nearly 5,000 pounds of “questionable” food from unapproved lunch trucks, caterers and bakeries.
More than 300 truck vendors, which are regularly found near ports and other industrial areas at lunch hour, were inspected and 43 of the trucks were found to be operating without food permits, the department said.
The department launched the inspections because of continuing problems with unlicensed food vendors in that part of the state, and the food safety risk involved in some of the products they sell.
“It is critical that all food establishments be permitted by the state, so that we can review the sanitation of their food preparation, and the cleanliness of the store or vehicle from which they are selling these products through our normal inspection process,” said Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson, in a statement. “Anything less jeopardizes the safety of the consumers who purchase and eat those products.”
Bronson said similar efforts will be launched throughout Florida in the future.