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It’s no secret that King County has an amazing food truck scene. Whether at a festival, or outside a concert or sporting event, you can find food from all around the world.

No matter where you get your food from, we want you to feel confident in the safety of the food you eat. That’s why, just like brick-and-mortar restaurants, our food safety team inspects and permits mobile food vendors to make sure they’re following food safety practices.

Recently, we’ve seen an increase in the number of unpermitted mobile food vendors selling food in King County. We are urging people to avoid vendors operating without a Public Health permit for two reasons: 1) to protect yourself from potential foodborne illness and 2) to help support mobile vendors that are following food safety best practices.

We’re particularly concerned about unpermitted vendors using makeshift red push carts (like the ones pictured below) to sell hot dogs around the stadiums, concert venues, and the Capitol Hill and University District neighborhoods in Seattle. Our food inspectors have made repeated attempts to address their unsafe operations and guide them through the permitting process. However, they have resisted our direction and continue to operate in ways that are unsafe to the public.

Similar push cart operations have been seen across other West Coast cities. These carts are not designed to safely handle food: they don’t have hand washing, clean water, or refrigeration. Food from these vendors could put people at serious risk of illness.

Public Health urges everyone to avoid purchasing food from push cart operations that do not have a permit.  

Carts like these are not permitted by Public Health and food from the vendors could put people at serious risk of illness.

How can I tell if a food vendor is permitted?

The best way to know if a food vendor is permitted is to check if they have a food safety rating sign (the green smiley face signs). Starting in January 2025, Public Health expanded our food safety rating system beyond restaurants to also include mobile food vendors (like food trucks and carts), bakeries, meat and fish vendors, and catering companies. Now, all permitted food businesses should display a food safety rating sign from Public Health.  

Additional tips for recognizing if a vendor is permitted include:  

• Avoid “pop-up” tents that show up in places like storefronts that don’t normally sell foods. These operations are not permitted by Public Health. The pop-ups often block sidewalks, and the makeshift stations generally lack handwashing or sanitizing buckets.
• Check our database of past inspections. You can check if a vendor is in our searchable database. If the business does not appear on this site, it’s a sign that the business is operating without a Public Health permit.
• Check recent food business closures and subscribe to get updates about new closures on our Food Establishment Closures webpage.

Finally, if you see a food vendor who you believe isn’t following proper health protocols, you can submit a question, comment, or complaint for us to investigate.  

Why is food permitting important?

When a food business goes through the permitting process, Public Health makes sure the business is following safe food handling practices. This helps prevent the spread of foodborne illness like salmonella, E. coli, and norovirus. Unpermitted vendors haven’t undergone regular Public Health inspections and trainings, which are important for reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses. Even fresh fruit can spread foodborne illness if not handled safely – for instance, if it’s not adequately cleaned or refrigerated, or if there’s bare-hand contact without proper handwashing.

While anyone can get a foodborne illness, children under 5 years of age, people who are pregnant, adults ages 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to get very sick from food poisoning and potentially require hospitalization.

What is Public Health doing?

Our goal is to help prevent the spread of foodborne illness. When Public Health is alerted to an unpermitted vendor, we visit to educate the vendor about the permitting process and suspend the vendor’s operations to prevent the risk of foodborne illnesses.

We also help vendors get permits by sharing resources, holding community meetings, and meeting one-on-one with vendors to help them understand how to become permitted. Some of the steps we’ve taken include offering interpretation in all languages, lowering financial barriers, launching a mobile food vendor advisory group, and developing a commissary kitchen dashboard to help people looking to get into mobile food vending find a commissary kitchen.

If you’re a food vendor with questions about the permitting process, please reach out to our Food and Facilities program, and we will be happy to assist.

Mobile food vendors play an essential role in our communities. We want to help vendors be successful while ensuring safe food for the public. 

Published September 6, 2024, updated March 19, 2025 to include additional detail about food safety rating signs.