Let’s Not Waffle On This Type Of Food Control!

From Coney Island to Union Square you’ll find those elusive unlicensed vendors – usually women – selling delicious churros to the public. Delicious? Okay, most churros, by the time they hit the streets, are hard and cold. But they’re supposed to taste like soft and tubular waffles decorated with cinnamon sugar.

Hail to the churros!

Selling churros – and other foods that I like to call free-for-alls, meaning it doesn’t matter where you sell it or to whom you sell it – is no big deal in New York City. We’re always looking to save a few bucks on a snack by purchasing something on-the-go. We also trust that the vendor hasn’t poisoned or spit in our food. Vendors usually don’t know who their customers are and they’re simply looking for a way to make quick cash selling their homemade portable goods.

There’s one little – okay BIG – thing wrong. These vendors aren’t licensed by the Board of Health and the Health Department hasn’t issued any paperwork that permits them to operate. Unlike hotdog vendors, who are mandated to obtain permits and other licenses, there’s nothing legal about standing in the middle of a crowded walkway with a shopping wagon and a huge tray of pastries.

I don’t feel bad for the women who were recently victims of the NYPD’s crackdown on churro sales. I understand some of these women have families to feed – but they’re selling illegal goods to the public that could make them sick. The food is most likely stored and handled improperly – you’re lucky if you don’t get a stomach virus or food poisoning.

A few times when I went to Canarsie Pier during the summer, there were guys selling homemade empanadas for a few dollars apiece. Stored in plastic coolers, the salty, meat-filled pastries were sold in tin foil. Under what conditions the guy – or maybe his wife – made these Spanish treats, I have no idea.

If you happen to go up East 92nd Street, near the Canarsie Courier’s office, you’ll sometimes catch someone selling food from the back of their SUV. Complete with Styrofoam containers and plastic cutlery, a woman pulls up on any given day and dishes out mounds of rice and chicken to the mechanics working at the nearby auto body shop. How safe is this food? We want to believe that she’s simply providing a hearty and warm meal, but how old is that food? How long was it sitting in her car before she brought it to our streets?

When you’re buying food off of someone in the street whose environment isn’t regulated by the government, you don’t know if the person had bugs in their house or if they practiced good hygiene habits.

Let’s get real! It’s bad enough that the “roach coaches” people get their meals from legitimately are under close scrutiny from the city. Vendors receive letter grades – just like restaurants receive – for cleanliness and confirmation that their vehicle has been inspected. Wouldn’t you want to know that the person you’re buying your lunch from has undergone some valid legal process?

Maybe entrepreneurs feel it’s too expensive and inconvenient to get a vending license. Won’t the vendors, who are whipping out churros and getting fined or arrested, pay in the end anyway? I don’t think illegal vendors have any right to fight for, well, their rights!

News reports stated that cops consumed one churro vendor’s goodies after they arrested her. For real?? Okay, maybe it’s disturbing that they’re eating “criminal evidence,” but there’s no justifiable reason to complain once your unlicensed stuff is confiscated by law enforcement.

In addition to food being confiscated, the penalties should be harsher for ANYONE selling food that’s not prepared in a legal and safe/clean setting. Hungry people already have to worry about their health and safety when they order food from a normal eatery!

Whatever food you’re looking to bake, fry, handle and sell to the public, you’re better off selling to people you know, like close friends and family. Those convenient – yet illegal - treats might be a good money-maker in theory, but if you can’t afford to get a vending license – eat your heart out  and get ready to answer to the law!