Food Safety Risk of Food Trucks Compared with Restaurants

Food trucks have become popular among consumers. However, regulators across the United States have concerns about their safety. This paper compares the health inspection performance of mobile food vendors and restaurants within seven major cities in the United States—Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Health inspection regimes vary, but within each city the same inspection criteria are used for both restaurants and mobile vendors (food trucks and carts). The study analyzes health inspection scores received by 34,396 food service establishments across all of these cities (194,687 total inspections) between 2008 and July 2013, with dates varying by city. By use of Poisson regression analysis, the number of violations or demerits is modeled as a function of establishment type and other explanatory variables. A separate model was run for each city. Additionally, in Boston, Miami, and Washington, D.C., the analysis was run using just the data on critical violations. Mobile food vendors averaged fewer violations than restaurants in Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, and Washington, D.C. (P < 0.01). In Seattle, mobile vendors and restaurants were equally likely to receive violations. The results suggest that food from mobile vendors is as safe as food from restaurants.