Is Your Pizza Truck Safe?

There's no denying the popularity of food trucks. They can be found lining the streets of many major metropolitan cities during lunchtime, at art and cultural events, and traveling the farmer's market circuit. In fact, when I run a search for pizza trucks on the popular Roaming Hunger food truck website, 184 trucks show up in the results. However, even with their popularity and strict health regulations, there's still a fairly large group of people who are nervous about ordering food from them. So what can you do to help them feel as confident ordering from a truck as they do coming into your pizzeria?

Thumbing through this month's issue of Health magazine, I came across an article about the safety and sanitation questions often raised by food trucks. Fortunately, pizza trucks weren't mentioned negatively in the article, but it did point out to food truck customers what they should be looking for when dining truckside. These safety red flags should be on your radar as well if you run a truck or are considering starting a pizza truck business. Remember, in a truck, your kitchen is on display at all times, and customers will be watching. Show them that you care about their health and safety.

Your truck should display a license and letter grade from the local health department (customer's can ask to see these or look them up if not posted).

Gloves should be worn (and changed frequently) to illustrate that you care about food safety. If you don't wear gloves, be extra conscious about your hands and nails being clean at all times.

Hair should be tied back and not hanging over food or needing to be brushed from your face causing you to frequently touch your hair or face, picking up bacteria and spreading it to food.

Foods must be at proper temperatures. Piping hot pizzas, calzones, soups, etc., and cold from the refrigerator sandwiches and salads.

Keep the sink stocked with soap and clear of dirty dishes. You'll need easy access to hand washing.

Do you run a pizza truck? How do you ensure your truck is always in tip-top shape?