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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene testimony on street food vending enforcement and proposed legislation
0:30:29
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4 min
Corinne Schiff, Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, testifies on the department's role in street food vending enforcement and discusses proposed legislation. She provides an update on the implementation of Local Law 18 of 2021, which expanded vending opportunities, and addresses the department's stance on new bills under consideration.
- The department has issued more supervisory license applications than required by Local Law 18, with 823 licenses issued and 382 supervisory license permits obtained.
- The department supports increasing supervisory license applications but opposes lifting the cap on licenses entirely.
- Concerns are raised about ensuring sufficient commissary space for any vending expansion to meet food safety requirements.
Corinne Schiff
0:30:29
Good morning, Chair Menon, and members of the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, and the Public Advocate.
0:30:35
I'm Corinne Schiff, Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
0:30:41
On behalf of Act Commissioner Doctor.
0:30:43
Michelle Morris, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the Health Department's enforcement of street food vending and on the legislation before the committee.
0:30:51
The department's mission is to protect and promote the health of all New Yorkers, including by promoting the safety of food sold from food carts and trucks.
0:31:00
We do that by issuing permits to operate a food cart or truck, issuing licenses to the people who vend food, providing mandated training for food vendors on food protection, and conducting food safety inspections.
0:31:12
I wanna start by providing a brief update on the department's implementation of local law 18 of twenty twenty one, which expanded opportunities for street food vending.
0:31:22
Local law 18 established a new mobile food vending license called a supervisory license, and a new kind of permit, a supervisory license permit.
0:31:31
The mobile food vending license authorizes a person to vend and a permit authorizes a food truck or food cart or truck to be used for vending.
0:31:39
A food cart or truck with a supervisory license permit must be operated by a person with a supervisory license.
0:31:46
The department is charged with issuing four forty five applications for a supervisory license each year for ten years as of July 2022.
0:31:55
Supervisory license applications are issued to people on waiting lists in accordance with the local law's detailed criteria and prioritization.
0:32:03
Vendors on the waiting list can track their progress on the department's lookup tool available on our website.
0:32:09
Once a person has a supervisory license they are entitled to apply for a supervisory license permit for a food cart or truck at any time.
0:32:17
There is no deadline or waiting list to apply.
0:32:20
The local law requires that as of 07/01/2032, all full term food carts and trucks other than green carts operate under a supervisory license permit.
0:32:31
The department has issued almost twice as many supervisory license applications as the local law requires, offering not only the four forty four supervisory license applications per year for the last three years, but also reissuing applications that didn't turn into supervisory licenses and offering applications that became available for legacy permits no longer in use.
0:32:52
As of late April, '8 '20 '3 vendors applied for the supervisory license, and after approving the applications, the department issued all eight twenty three supervisory licenses.
0:33:03
So far, three eighty two of the eight twenty three licensees have obtained their supervisory license permits.
0:33:12
Other vendors are in the permitting process and because the local law has no deadline to apply for the supervisory license permit, others may be preparing to apply sometime in the future.
0:33:22
I will now turn to the legislation under consideration today.
0:33:25
Introduction 04/31 would accelerate the transition to supervisory license permits by moving the deadline from 02/1932 to 2029, increasing the number of supervisory license applications required to be issued each year, and would remove the cap on licenses as of 2029.
0:33:42
The New York City Health Department has no concerns about issuing more supervisory license applications annually than local law currently requires, and would like to work with the city council on some of the details to ease implementation.
0:33:53
The administration is opposed to lifting the cap entirely and looks forward to further conversations.
0:33:59
If the council changes the cap on food vending carts and trucks, this will expand the health department's current workload to monitor food safety, including the issue of licenses and permits, provision of mandatory food safety training, and inspections, leading to increased costs for the department.
0:34:14
We have no concerns with introduction twelve fifty one, which would allow the department to issue additional supervisory license applications if needed to meet licensing targets.
0:34:23
We want to note that New York State and New York City law require food carts and trucks to have a commissary.
0:34:28
Commissaries provide cleaning, storage, and facilities for food preparation.
0:34:33
Any vending expansion must ensure sufficient commissary space to meet food safety requirements.
0:34:39
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
0:34:41
I, along with my colleagues from DSNY, DCWP, and SBS are happy to take your questions.