Unlicensed Hot Dog Vendors Break Health Codes

Outside many clubs on any given weekend, usually between the hours of 12 and 2 a.m., sidewalks are packed with club-goers who are all too familiar with the smell of fried onions, bacon and peppers.
The potent smell stimulates the olfactory senses and attracts the attention of tired, hungry, intoxicated club-goers. As he or she gets closer to the vendor's cart, the splattering noise of onions, bacon and hot dogs frying is heard. It's difficult to find where the smell is coming from since these hot dog carts are usually stationed on a dimly lit part of the sidewalk. The hungry passer-by takes a bite of the delicious $3 hot dog without hesitancy.

As more people walk down the street carrying the hot dogs wrapped with bacon, topped with a choice of mustard, mayo or jalapenos, the line grows. The vendor feels the pressure of having to appease every potential customer's hunger. Nobody is taking notice that the same hands cooking the meat are also handling money without gloves. A minute later, the cook is seen scrambling as he puts his cart, ingredients, and money away. Around the corner, a policeman makes his way to the cook's cart to either reprimand or arrest him.

More often than not, hot dog vendors are operating without proper permits and breaking health codes putting their customers at risk for food borne illnesses. An estimated 76 million cases of food borne diseases occur each year in the U.S. and 325,000 results in hospitalizations. Based partly on estimates from the Center for Disease and Control and Prevention, foods borne diseases kill 5,000 Americans a year.

Licenses

In front of Santa Monica Boulevard clubs such as "Rage" and "Mickey's," vendors are spotted running their mini-businesses during clubbing peak hours. Officials at West Hollywood's City Hall set up preventative efforts to minimize the number of vendors who operate their hot dog carts without licenses.

Despite warnings, vendors still sell their hot dogs without licenses. One vendor was almost arrested for ignoring Police warnings as he tried to evade a police officer by moving his cart across the street. As soon as the Police officer left, he started selling again.

The license process one must follow might contribute to why so few actually try to obtain one. The vendor must get a business license, obtain a resale license if buying wholesale products, file and publish a DBA/fictitious business name if using a name different from their own, and if selling taxable items, a seller's permit must be obtained. Lastly, if the vendor has employees, he or she needs a state ein employer number, according to BusinessNameUsa.com. To some vendors, this process might seem too much of a hassle and some vendors are unaware of the licensing process.

Half of the time, vendors are not alone and include their friends and family members into the cooking process. Working like an assembly line, one father handled the money; a woman cut onions while a child helped put mustard and mayo on the hot dog.

Sanitation issues usually raise concern in this type of market venture. Unlike restaurants, these carts do not contain letter grades or inspection scores so customers have no idea whether their food is bacteria free or cooked properly.

Inspection scores are important since public safety administrators check how food is stored. How these unlicensed hot dog vendors store their ingredients is left to question. While some vendors might refrigerate their meat, there is no guarantee that all vendors practice these safe-cooking measures.

In a food poisoning report done by the CDC, "food that is lightly contaminated and left out overnight can be highly infectious the next day. If the food were refrigerated promptly, the bacteria would not multiply at all."

The report also said, "A food that is fully cooked can become re-contaminated if it touches other raw foods or drippings from raw foods that contain pathogens."

Food Poisoning Awareness

With the number of young people buying these hot dogs and the number of food poisoning hospitalizations, some might be unaware that college campuses offer resources on food poisoning.
For one, the CSUN Student Health Center has peer nutrition counselors who can answer any dietary questions.

"There's no program per-se that I'm aware of, but if someone is interesting in food safety, they can make an appointment with a peer counselor to get information," said Sharon Aranoff, Health Educator at the Student Health Center at Cal State University Northridge. However, "If a club or organization would say, 'we would really like a program on food counseling,' there aren't programs pre-packaged."

Symptoms

With refrigeration and handling measures under suspicion, precautions should be taken and hot dog consumers should educate themselves of the consequences. Customers should learn about the symptoms of food poisoning.

Based on a report by Steven Angelo, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, symptoms of classical food poisoning usually appear two to three hours after ingestion.

Symptoms include nausea followed by vomiting and abdominal cramping, diarrhea, which may be bloody, fever, chills, weakness and headache might occur.

Other types of food poisoning include Salmonella, Shigella and E. coli.

If one were to get food poisoning, "They should be seen at the Student Health Center so somebody can receive treatment" said Aranoff.

Social Dilemma

Despite the safety hazards of eating food from unlicensed vendors, several customers disregard the warnings and continue to eat the hot dogs.

Ven Velasco, 21, Communications major, knows the risks but eats them anyway. For someone who is young, hungry, and short on change, the convenience of the hot dog carts seem more like a blessing than any type of danger.

"They're good and they're cheap. I'm not worried about the bacteria," said Velasco.

Another consumer, Chris Abejuela, 22, Business Marketing major, knows the consequences and still eats them even if it means getting "possible food poisoning for some bomb hot dogs," said Abejuela.
Hot dog prices are easy on wallets but the safety dangers it poses can be more costly. When buying from vendors, one must use common sense and look at how food is handled, prepared and stored. Storage is extremely important since CDC studies show bacteria can grow rapidly overnight if cold food is not stored cold and hot food is not stored hot. Just because it tastes good, does not mean it's good for you.