WAVE 3 Investigative Report

WAVE 3 has been advertising that they will be airing investigative report about the sanitation of Louisville area food trucks on Monday evening! I obviously don't know what they will say in the report but they are sure making it look like things aren't very rosy. They show a brief interview with a health inspector and ask her if she would eat at one, her response is she wouldn't said with a smile.

I saw these guys filming last Tuesday when the Traveling Kitchen guys were set up down at the Health Sciences Center. Fine for the Health Inspector, more Korean tacos for me...

What is funny about this: Most of the food trucks have everything visible, so you see the food being prepared. Every one I have patronized is scrupulously clean. I cannot say the same for many brick and mortar restaurants. Most you never see the kitchen or who prepares your food. In my previous employment, I have been in several restaurant kitchens and there are a few that turned my stomach and I will never eat there. One (since closed) was so dirty, we did not put our equipment down while there. Grease and bugs everywhere, smelly, dirty employees and we just about steam cleaned the ambulance after. I called the Health Department, but they stayed open for years after.

My question is: What prompted this? Was the "tip" from a restaurant owner? The aired comment from the inspector goes along with the known history of the local food trucks being inspected more and being held to build standards that are written for non-mobile food prep . Amazingly, the trucks that are tied to the community seem to be hassled more that the "gypsy" food vendors. We have reported several non-licensed (and not inspected) carts and they are still setting up, often in the same place for weeks.

The "new" food trucks are members of the community, want to make quality food and have met the health standards - several of them have 100% consistently. I hope Wave 3 does not do a half-baked smear job. We are self-styled "food truck groupies", but we will not spend our money at any place, mobile or planted that is not clean or is not quality.

My question is: What prompted this? Was the "tip" from a restaurant owner? The aired comment from the inspector goes along with the known history of the local food trucks being inspected more and being held to build standards that are written for non-mobile food prep . Amazingly, the trucks that are tied to the community seem to be hassled more that the "gypsy" food vendors. We have reported several non-licensed (and not inspected) carts and they are still setting up, often in the same place for weeks.

That was exactly my question. Did somebody provide them a tip to do this story are they doing it on their own? I've also seen a couple of the nonlicensed units around town but have never seen any of them hassled or shutdown!

Hopefully it will be a piece based on facts and they started the investigation without a preconceived notion of what the outcome would be.

Truck health inspections are a matter of public record. If they are grotesquely unclean, and a health inspector says she wouldn't eat there shouldn't the investigation be of the public agency that runs inspections and not of the private business being cleared by the city to operate?

http://www.wave3.com/story/22818583/hea ... ion-safety

What is funny about this: Most of the food trucks have everything visible, so you see the food being prepared. Every one I have patronized is scrupulously clean. I cannot say the same for many brick and mortar restaurants. Most you never see the kitchen or who prepares your food. In my previous employment, I have been in several restaurant kitchens and there are a few that turned my stomach and I will never eat there. One (since closed) was so dirty, we did not put our equipment down while there. Grease and bugs everywhere, smelly, dirty employees and we just about steam cleaned the ambulance after. I called the Health Department, but they stayed open for years after.

My question is: What prompted this? Was the "tip" from a restaurant owner? The aired comment from the inspector goes along with the known history of the local food trucks being inspected more and being held to build standards that are written for non-mobile food prep . Amazingly, the trucks that are tied to the community seem to be hassled more that the "gypsy" food vendors. We have reported several non-licensed (and not inspected) carts and they are still setting up, often in the same place for weeks.

The "new" food trucks are members of the community, want to make quality food and have met the health standards - several of them have 100% consistently. I hope Wave 3 does not do a half-baked smear job. We are self-styled "food truck groupies", but we will not spend our money at any place, mobile or planted that is not clean or is not quality.

Totally thinking along these lines as well.
Frankly, it sounds like an overhyped "marketed for mass consumption" news story.

Agreed.
As one vendor put it whats the point of having a utensil cleaning 3 sink station in the truck, when its easier to carry a few extra (in case you drop some) and then just clean everything at the end of the day back at your HQ?

The only real danger there, Doug, from a food safety perspective, is the potential for a less-than-scrupulous operator to drop a utensil and then reuse rather than replace. At least with a ware washing station on hand there is a system for proper sanitation, whether it is used or not. It is my experience that unscrupulous operators will do neither and just use the dirty utensil anyway. sigh.

My question is: What prompted this? Was the "tip" from a restaurant owner? The aired comment from the inspector goes along with the known history of the local food trucks being inspected more and being held to build standards that are written for non-mobile food prep . Amazingly, the trucks that are tied to the community seem to be hassled more that the "gypsy" food vendors. We have reported several non-licensed (and not inspected) carts and they are still setting up, often in the same place for weeks.

Having worked in the news business I can say there's a good chance it was just something someone came up with as a way to fill their quota of stories for the week. There have been similar stories in other cities in recent months. And like the semi-annual Theatair-X hidden camera story it will get trotted out every few months when things are slow.

That being said, though, I noticed when watching the story that one of the trucks was set up across the street from Vincenzo's. I haven't heard much of it but I can see some animosity on the part of those brick-and-mortar locations over a food truck parking outside their front door.

This was a smear job. They show a gypsy smoker set up on 7th Street Road as the only example of cleanliness. Any one who has seen the permanently licensed food trucks knows they are clean. Every one of them has had inspections consistently 95 and above. WAVE 3 assured one vendor that complained that they were doing a positive follow-up and then aired just about the letter grades. This is ridiculous. These are members of the community that are following the rules, only to be lumped in with people who do not and the Health Department cannot or will not go after the bad ones.

There has already been financial repercussions - the Food Truck Dishcrawl (http://www.dishcrawl.com/louisville/) set for July 24th has been fielding calls for refunds. Eric Flack apparently did not know that the licensed food trucks have no history of bad inspections by the communications I have had and does not care. Bad reporting, bad "investigating".