Street Vendor Seafood Actually OK, Health Department Says

After freaking out street vendors and the bloggers who love them yesterday, the Health Department has emailed us to say it was all a big misunderstanding. A provision in the Health Department's new code [pdf] raised eyebrows by declaring 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." That's what it says, but it's not what they meant!

A spokesperson for the Health Department just sent us this statement: "The Health Department currently prohibits, and will continue to prohibit the sale of raw shellfish from a mobile food cart. However, the wording in the recent amendments to the Health Code effectively prohibit the sale of all seafood, raw and cooked, and that was unintentional. The Health Department intends to fix this, and will not enforce this amendment as written. So, everybody take a deep breath and stop taking the Health Department's rules so literally.

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By John Del Signore in Food on December 16, 2009 4:12 PM

Comments [rss]

sowhtifithppnsitwll

Why has Bassett caters ever brought up?

Rocknrope

And where does ceviche fall into the mix? Not that I probably will ever trust ceviche from a cart, but technically it's cooked via the citric acid from the lime juice.

harrisgraber

Why can't the Health Department have regulations that say what they mean and not what they don't intend? Are they going to change the wording? If not, why not?

I know. I've got too many questions. I just don't understand why they put regulations in place that they have no intention of enforcing. It smacks of incompetence somewhere, either that or dishonesty. We'll have to wait to see if any street vendor gets fined for selling seafood.

ed_Extinct

Can you even get fresh fish from a place called Kwik Meal?

nicemarmot

It's not fresh, it's Kwik. No false advertising!

valeriob

I asked The Kwik Meal guys about this today, they were like, huh?

Funny thing, I overheard two suits talking about the sad rat stuck in the sidewalk while waiting in the Kwik Meal line!