How officials protect consumers from illegal food sales
Unsanitary conditions could spread diseases.
How officials protect consumers from illegal food sales

Phil Maytubby quickly pulled in and parked in front of the black Ford Expedition, blocking its escape. Clipboard in hand, he jumped out of his red pickup, then said, "Are you ready to go to jail?”

Eloisa Salgado Leon, 35, shook her head and threw her hands up in the air, knowing the dozens of burritos, sandwiches and other food items would be confiscated and thrown away. The few construction workers waiting to buy lunch dispersed when Maytubby pulled out his citation book.

This was not Leon's first time to be caught selling food without a license. It was her third, warranting a trip to jail and a fine of no less than $1,200, said Maytubby, field supervisor with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department.

Leon's arrest is one of the latest in the department's crackdown on illegal food sales across the county.

"The problem is they're selling food and it's an unhealthy situation,” Maytubby said. "They're preparing the food in their homes and it's unregulated. The food may not be safe. This would be a good way to get an outbreak started.”

Leon had been driving around to various construction sites in northwest Oklahoma City, selling her goods from the back of her sport utility vehicle. When she was caught by Maytubby in the Fairview Farms housing addition, she had parked, opened the back hatch of the SUV and was selling everything from candy and pop to burritos and jalapeno peppers.

Just a week earlier, Maytubby had missed busting Leon in a nearby neighborhood driving a red minivan. Maytubby was sitting in the neighborhood waiting for her when she drove up right next to his pickup, stopped and honked at a couple of workers. None offered to buy from her, so she drove off and was out of sight in a matter of seconds.

While writing Leon a citation Wednesday, Maytubby told her repeatedly that he felt bad for doing what he was doing, but she was breaking the law. Maytubby said the Health Department would be glad to help Leon meet the law, all her burritos were at the right temperature of above 130 degrees.

Leon said she was selling illegally because her husband had shot her twice and she was trying to get a separation from him. A police report states that Leon was shot by her husband on June 8.

Tiffany Hererra, 20, has her own reason for wanting the illegal burrito peddling to stop. She legally sells to the same customers Leon targets. She drives a legal food truck for El Burrito de Oro, a food catering service with six trucks based out of a restaurant at 2106 SW 44.

"It not fair,” she said. "They can sell food cheaper than us. They don't pay taxes and have less employees.”

And being up to the health department's codes can be costly, she said. Being able to operate legally means you have to have an appropriate truck with running water and proper devices for keeping food warm. Since they can't cook the food in the truck, the food must be prepared in a kitchen certified by the department.

But Hererra's business wasn't always legal. About three years earlier, her mother was busted by the health department for illegally selling food. The business went from selling from a trunk to a restaurant with a full fleet of food trucks.

"They (illegal vendors) do impact our licensed vendors and our restaurants,” Maytubby said. "And it wouldn't be fair to go in and inspect them and give them violations for not washing their hands when there is someone out here selling food without a license and is totally unregulated.”

Illegal burrito sales at construction zones aren't the only concern of the department, though. Inspectors are finding illegal sales of pizzas at clubs late at night, said Michael Bailey, program administrator for consumer protection at the department. They have also come across illegal ice cream carts on the southwest side of Oklahoma City and illegal egg roll sales in the Asian district.

"Wherever the food is being prepared, the kitchens have not been inspected, so there is no way of knowing what you are buying,” Bailey said. The two most common ways food-borne illness spreads is by improper or unsanitary handling and temperature.

Education is the goal of the health department. When a complaint comes in they will act, but they would much rather have a vendor comply with code and become licensed to sell food, Bailey said. That is why the first time someone is caught they will get a warning.

The second offense is worthy of a fine not less than $750, he said. A third, such as Leon's, is much stiffer and can result in jail time, Bailey said.

Maytubby hopes the third time will push Leon toward becoming legal. Otherwise, he said, he'll be back out looking for her. And a fourth bust is guaranteed to bring jail time.

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