Seafood Now Prohibited from Street Vendors

Sardines at the Atlantic Antic

On January 1st a little-noticed Health Department rule will take effect, prohibiting street vendors from selling any seafood products. This is going to put a dent in the business of such vendors as the Schnitzel Truck, the Endless Summer Mexican truck, and the NYC Cravings Truck, to name a few. The Health Department's new code [pdf] declares that "no fish, shellfish, or any food consisting of or made with an aquatic animal...shall be prepared, stored, held for service or sold from a mobile food vending unit." Blogger Midtown Lunch, which spotted the change today, is not taking this well:

"The full ramifications of this are just sinking into my brain right now, and it’s easy to joke about the 'safety' of eating seafood from a truck," writes Midtown Lunch. "But think about all the great seafood options being offered right now from carts and trucks in Midtown alone...This must be some kind of a bad dream." We've contact the Health Department for more insight into what prompted the change, and will let you know what they say. But for now, enjoy that tilapia from Kwik Meal while you can.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in Food on December 15, 2009 3:35 PM

Comments [rss]

myv

The sardines pictures were sold at the Atlantic Antic, which happens once a year. The sardines are cooked outside La Mancha restaurant, not in a truck.

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2009/10/atlantic-antic-sardines.html

atothek

Yet another example of the powerful gyro and kebab lobbies throwing their weight around City Hall.

SikBug

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Fish Taco's... RIP

babyhitler

I guess someone didn't grease the right palms at city hall. the govt will take everything from you one of these days.

longacre

This is clearly an attempt to appease Manhattan's cattle farmers.

janelle

that settles it - i'm getting a cod schnitzel sandwich on friday!

BigRed

I don't understand why seafood is banned but it is still ok to store unrefrigerated meat at the carts. Mobile food vendors should be required to refrigerate all meat that is not being cooked. It's just not safe to store unrefrigerated meat all day.

silver

Your not the first. No running water. Nowhere for the vendor to piss or shit (except in a bucket). And no refrigeration ("you gonna buy my ice?") except for the drinks. And flys. And the carts never get washed down. The carts that are on the street 24/7 the most scary. I never buy anything from those carts. When I was a kid, 3 of 4 times I got sick from that crap. Dont be like homer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skurheg3P6I

rasputinsghost

Obviously you should be discerning in your food cart choices. Places that have won the Vendy awards (e.g. Sammy's, etc) are pretty reliable and I have seen with my own eyes the guys cleaning it. For a counterpoint I have been eating new york cart food for close to my whole life and NEVER gotten sick. I have, however, gotten food poisoning from (gasp!) restaurants.

nicemarmot

::shudder::

It does seem a bit unfair, though. Is fish really any more likely to cause food poisoning than chicken?

NannyState

The fish itself might be fine and not make you immediately sick but where did it come from? Who tracked it to make sure it wasn't hauled out of the Gowanus Canal? A lot of fish contains mercury and other toxins. Does that street vendor buy from a reputable source? Or did you just ingest a Newtown Creek carp?

longacre

Couldn't you say the same about fish sold anywhere?

nicemarmot

My friend's father once told me a story about when he lived on the UES in the 60s. He was walking by the river and saw some Chinese guys fishing in the river. On his way home, he saw those same guys coming out of the back of his favorite Chinese place.

ProcedureTurn

I didnt even know food carts sold seafood. Never seen this before. Not even in Chinatown.

Spirit of 76

This stinks. From what I understand, one of the last places in Chinatown to get curried squid was from a street vendor's cart.

NattyB

WTF.

I love the Tilapia, as well as the Salmon, from Kwik Meal.

I can understand Shellfish, but really, plain 'old fish.

hotstepper

do we need a law against EVERYTHING?

TrippinJoJo

yup, there's a law for that!

em

Oh.my.god. What does this mean for the Red Hook ceviche vendor?! (I'm sure I'll get flamed for eating ceviche from a truck, but theirs is awesome!)

Seriously, how is it that all these nasty chain restaurants and shit diners can stay open, but clean, legitimate vendors can't? Oh, that's right, health dept. bribes.

sidenote

I doubt that - diners cook everything to death and have high turnover, so there isn't as much to worry about. It's all Sysco out of a can anyways.

Maybe there have been a bunch of complaints of sickness, or it's harder to disinfect. The DOH guys are hard asses, they're not going to take bribes as a rule, they love busting people.

Soggy

Yup, I'm sure no DOH inspector has ever taken a bribe. Cops love busting people, too, and they certainly never take bribes.

ChampionOfTheSun

I bought a fish sandwich from a truck once, and even though I didn't get sick, I immediately regretted it. It doesn't seem safe buying fish from a truck that's been sitting under the hot summer sun all ... or any meat for that matter.

PTG in nyc

So when you eat in little eateries that pay rent during the summer, they're not sweltering hot even though that one little crappy AC unit is trying to convince you otherwise?

If fish festering in a hot truck is bad, what about chicken (highest incidence of salmonella) or beef (definitely not okay in improper storage)? I'm not saying food trucks have no risk, but I am not convinced that seafood is riskier than the rest of em, nor that any random little NYC eatery is any safer.

Why won't the health dept let people take risks on the merits of their own decision making? Because our sewer system is 130 years old, swimming in our beaches is also technically a risk. Where will it end?