The Pima County Health Department is cracking down on an organized group of food vendors operating unpermitted taco stands throughout Tucson.
County health officials said they believe the illicit vendors are part of a larger group that may have started several years ago in California and has been operating in Maricopa County since at least August.
Pima County had its first report of these vendors in early September, within days of Maricopa County sending a late August alert to health departments after 17 people in the Phoenix area reported foodborne illnesses.
Maricopa County Environmental Services Department traced the illnesses to a specific group of unlicensed food vendors and launched an investigation.
Pinal, Yavapai and Coconino counties also have reported unlicensed taco vendors popping up in their communities.
Pima health officials said three to five vendors selling tacos al pastor have set up on intersections throughout Tucson, including several in the Midvale Park area, near the Tucson Mall at North First Avenue and East Wetmore Road and South Tucson Boulevard and East Drexel Road.
Pima County Health Department officials shut down three unpermitted food vendors operating on city sidewalks.
As of mid-October, there were seven complaints of foodborne illnesses traced to these sidewalk stands — an open tent covering a metal steam table with al pastor roasting on a tabletop trompo. Very little of the condiments and other visible foodstuffs is covered and county health officials said workers are not following food safety protocols, from ensuring food is maintained at proper temperatures to having handwashing stations.
The vendors are traveling in unmarked white box trucks with temporary plates and do not appear to have a business name, and they often move around to avoid detection by health officials, county officials said.
The county in early September issued notices of violation against several vendors, advising them of steps they needed to take to legally operate, said Danny Nikitas, Pima County Health Department's consumer health and safety program manager. When inspectors returned to follow up, the vendors had made no changes, so health officials moved in to shut them down.
“We’re kind of in uncharted waters here," Nikitas said. "We’ve had some makeshift vendors pop up, but not to the level of this defiance. It’s already been pretty apparent that they are not taking this seriously.”
On Oct. 11, Tucson Police and Pima County Consumer Health and Food Safety officials executed a warrant to shut down an unpermitted vendor at South Craycroft Road and East 22nd Street. Among the violations officials found: raw meat stored in plastic containers on a table, no ice or other means to control food temperatures and a container with meat juices dripping onto the truck floor.
Pima County health officials said the unpermitted food vendors selling al pastor tacos are not following food safety protocols.
Nikitas said a few customers standing in line appeared confused when officers walked up, but the vendors did not look surprised to see them.
"Obviously this was not their first encounter with us," he said.
Officials executed three more search warrants on Oct. 18 and found similar food safety violations at sidewalk stands set up at shopping centers at East Irvington Road and South Campbell Avenue; West Valencia Road and South Oak Tree Drive in Midvale Park; and at West Valencia Road and South 12th Avenue.
Food at all four locations was thrown away, officials said.
Nikitas said this is the first time county health inspectors have faced such open defiance from unpermitted vendors.
"The level of defiance has been amazing," he added.
That's what Pinal County faced when Public Health Services officials approached unpermitted food vendors selling tacos and fruteros in late summer.
"Usually when we deal with unlicensed operators, we tell them to stop operating and they would," said Christopher Reimus, deputy director of Pinal County Public Health. "In the case that we were dealing with in the summer, they either refused or couldn’t get a license."
Pima County Health Department officials said an apparent network of unpermitted food vendors started operating in Tucson in early September. The county shut down four operations this month.
Pinal County investigated a few reports of illegal vendors before sending out public notifications to "inform the people who would eat there that it is not safe or endorsed and they are are not permitted,” Reimus said.
Nikitas said investigators have been able to get very little information from the vendors, who mostly speak Spanish and refuse to give their names.
"We have little bits and pieces," he said. “We believe that it is tied to an organization that originated from California. I can't say that with certainty, but some of the workers have given us that indication, as well.”
Ventura County (California) Environmental Health Division started seeing an influx of pop-up unlicensed food ventures in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Most of them were selling Mexican food, according to reporting by the Ventura County Star.
The problem got so bad that the county in summer 2022 started cracking down, and over a year's span, shut down unlicensed food stands nearly 50 times. But most of the time, according to investigative reporter Tony Biasotti, the stands returned to the same spot the next night or later the same night.
Ventura County Board of Supervisors in July adopted a sidewalk vending ordinance that allows county enforcement officials to shut down unlicensed food vendors and confiscate their food and equipment. The ordinance went into effect this fall.
Pima County has 860 permitted food trucks, trailers and carts operating in metropolitan Tucson, according to county data. Those vendors usually display their current county-issued operating permit and business name on their stand or truck.
“Pima County is full of food trucks, festivals, and restaurants that do follow all food safety guidelines,” Loni Anderson, division manager of Pima County Consumer Health and Food Safety, said in a written statement. “We do not want the public to feel discouraged in eating at those locations.”
