New Yorkers may want to think twice before biting into that lunchtime hot dog.
Citywide, food cart vendors have tallied up a whopping 2,517 health code violations this year, but the city Department of Health has no plans to make these conditions public.
The health department does not post letter grades on food carts, as it does for restaurants, and has no immediate plans to do so.
Street vendors failed to meet heath code regulations ranging from personal hygiene to rodent infestation.
Some carts are even serving “mystery meat,” according to the New York Post — “food from an unapproved or unknown source, spoiled, adulterated or home-canned.”
Since last year, City Councilman Daniel Garodnick has demanded that mobile vendors be brandished with letter-grade rankings. “People should know that the food they’re eating is safe.”
Gone bad
According to the New York Post, the following vendors racked up the most offenses:
Bulent Isci, at 41st St. and Seventh Ave.
16 violations, including keeping foods at the wrong temperature and leaving chow unprotected from contamination.
Mubarak Ahmed, at 23rd St. and Sixth Ave.
14 violations, including bad personal hygiene and hazardous cart conditions.
Mohammed El Hiba, at Liberty St. and Broadway.
14 violations, including bad personal hygiene and cooking foods below minimum required temperatures.
Nur Ahammed, at 56-17 56th Drive in Queens.
14 violations, including improperly using pesticides and sleeping in his food cart.
