Contra Costa extends color-coded inspections to food trucks

Contra Costa Environmental Health is extending the county’s color-coded health inspection placard system to mobile food businesses like food trucks, similar to its current use for brick-and-mortar restaurants.

County health officials say that over the next few weeks they’ll be conducting regular health inspections of mobile food facilities that cook or prepare food, as well as those selling some pre-packaged food items, posting green, yellow, red or white placards on the vehicles to signify the results of the inspection.

Red indicates closure due to major health violations, such as a vermin infestation. Yellow means that major health violations were found, but the business owner was able to fix them.

Green means no problems, or minimal problems, were found during an inspection. White placards are for business owners waiting to renew their permits after a closure.

There are some exemptions, however, for trucks or carts that only sell pre-packaged ice cream, uncut produce or prepackaged items unlikely to spoil.
County officials say their goal with the program is to pressure food sellers to follow safe handling practices and to inform customers when businesses fail to do so.

For more information, including a searchable database of inspection results, people can go to https://cchealth.org/eh.