News

Sacramento food trucks required to display health inspection placards

May 4, 2017

Starting this summer, food trucks in Sacramento County, California will have to display color coded health inspection placards such as the ones seen at regular restaurants, according to abc10.com.

The county adopted a color coded placard system in 2007 to let customers know if a food facility has passed health inspections. A green placard means a restaurant passed, yellow is a conditional pass, meaning there are a few things that need to be fixed, and red is an immediate closure of a facility due to a health threat.

When the color code system was adopted in 2007, there weren't many food trucks in Sacramento, according to Kelly McCoy, spokesperson for Sacramento County. This is why food trucks weren't included in the color code system.

Fast-forward 10 years and there are now 210 food trucks operating in the county. 

Food trucks are required to have a permit for every county they're operating in. 

Food trucks have always had to pass health inspections as required by the state for all food facilities. The food handling process is slightly different in a food truck compared to a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

In 2011, Sacramento Mobile Food helped introduce the city to the food truck industry and held its first festival event at Fremont Park. The food truck festival attracted more than 10,000 attendees the first year and has since grown.