LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Las Vegas street vendor is speaking out after health inspectors confiscated her food, claiming that she was operating without a permit.
The Southern Nevada Health District says unlicensed vendors pose a potential health risk, but vendor Ines Baruchs argues the process to obtain a permit is too costly for small sellers like her.
Baruchs has been selling corn and esquites on the streets of Las Vegas for over six years, but a few weeks ago, her business came to a halt. Baruchs spoke with FOX5 in Spanish, saying, “All of a sudden the city came and said I can’t sell because I don’t have a permit, so they started throwing away my corn.”
She says health inspectors threw away her food in front of her customers, which led her to lose out on the money she needed to provide for her children. “My esquites, they threw them in the trash right in front of me, they said since I don’t pay for a permit I can’t work.”
The Southern Nevada Health District says unpermitted vendors don’t always follow proper food safety protocols.
“Without proper permits and inspections unpermitted food vendors may employ inadequate sanitation practices, leading to foodborne illnesses,” the health district said in an email to FOX5.
However, when asked if they’ve investigated any outbreaks linked to street vendors, a spokesperson shared that SNHD has not investigated any foodborne illness complaints involving sidewalk vendors.
They add if a vendor is caught “selling food without a valid health permit, the procedure is to confiscate the food.”
Baruchs argues that her food is clean and says she has never had a customer complaint. “Everything I sell is hygienic. I have over six years selling my corn and a client has never complained.”
She says she wants to comply with the law but claims the process is too expensive. Vendors are required to operate from a licensed food truck or cart which can cost a lot of money.
“One of the requisites is that they ask that I buy a cooler that costs over $80,000 and I don’t have that kind of money,” she shared.
Baruchs says she isn’t alone and many vendors operate in fear, struggling to make ends meet. For now, she says she will keep selling – knowing that at any moment her food could be confiscated again.
The health district says sidewalk vendors cannot offer food to the public prepared from home kitchens, they must use professional-grade equipment and hold a valid food handler safety card.
For more information on street vending permits in southern Nevada, visit the Southern Nevada Health District website.
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