Reader: Get Licensed, Get Your Food Handler’s Card, Get Inspected

A few seconds of video were enough to ignite outrage across the country, as well as coverage by TMZ and Newsweek, among many other media outlets: a public health inspector pouring bleach over tubs of food at Taco Tacocolorado, a popular Denver street taco stand parked off South Colorado Boulevard on November 15, when investigators from the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment arrived.

The Denver Department of Public Health & Environment was quick to come clean and put that video in context. According to DDPHE officials, the video captures only a few moments of a months-long effort to bring Taco Tacolorado into compliance with basic food safety rules. The stand had been operating without a license despite repeated attempts by multiple jurisdictions – everywhere from Colorado Springs to Arvada and Lakewood – to educate the operator and provide a path to legal operation.

But bleach? Was that government overkill, or a move to prevent tainted food — including meat kept at dangerously warm temperatures — from making consumers sick. The comments came in fast and furious on the Westword Facebook story on the incident. Says John:

It’s a two-sided story. I love street food, but if I could get sick, then no. I am well-traveled, and you expect these things in developing countries. But at home, I would expect some compliance with local and federal law. No one wants to get gut-sick. One of the worst things you can do to a person…

Adds Andy:

Good! I don’t want to eat food that’ll get me sick because the vendor was to lazy to do it the right way. I applaud the inspectors. Can’t wait to read all the comments about how this is racist. Get legal or get the fuck out. It’s just that easy.

Rose responds:

Don’t feel safe eating street-vendor food? Move on and go eat at Chili’s. Leave them alone, they’re trying to make a living. The destruction of their food is racist and classist.

Adds Kevin:

Nothing but a lot of racist idiots on here assuming they were unclean. Go back to kissing on your relatives. We know why you guys do things like this .

Counters Walt:

This probably had the effect of deterring some people from purchasing and eating food from any outdoor stand. Or at least raised consciousness about sanitation and refrigeration. Which minimizes food transmitted illnesses and poisoning. And, no, it’s not about racial bias but making sure the food we buy is safe to eat. Believe me, you don’t want to go to the hospital for food poisoning.

Explains Lisa:

I had to take a food-safety class and proctored test to work in a kitchen six times a year. The least these people could do the same. After taking that class, I’m only going to be eating at home unless going out is necessary. Also, when we do go to food trucks, in the past, we always look for permits, inspections and licenses. People willing to get these do what they need to do.

Suggests Pavel:

Pouring bleach in the food is a power move – completely unnecessary and inflammatory.

Adds Robert:

Does DDPHE policy allow that action specifically? Does its policy allow for the destruction of personal property without due process? I’m truly curious; was this an overzealous attempt to gain compliance? Mind you, I’m not defending the vendor, but rather the rule of law and property rights.

Responds Jeremy:

Temping the food and observing the prep and service conditions is the due process: there are well-documented standards and DDPHE tried to get this place to follow those standards. But I’m in food service in Denver, and the inspectors have the right to discard food when it’s not safe. Government doing the right thing here.

Concludes Graeme:

Get licensed, get your food handler’s card, get inspected. It’s really not that hard to run a food truck in Colorado, but there are rules.

Do you eat at food trucks and stands around Denver? Did you see the video of the DDPHE inspector pouring bleach? What do you think? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.