Lake Forest Illegal Street Vendors Pose Health Risk

Consumption of food or beverages made or sold by street vendors who do not possess a valid health permit can result in a foodborne illness. 

Illegal street food vending can often have unsafe cooking environments with makeshift equipment, unverified food sources, storage, and handling, no running water, and do not follow proper food safety and handwashing practices. 

Multiple foodborne illness cases attributed to street food sold illegally were reported to the Orange County Health Care Agency in 2022. 

To help protect the health and safety of residents and visitors, Lake Forest has ramped up its efforts to crack down on the illegal street vendors that have popped up around Lake Forest in the past couple of months. City staff, the Orange County Sheriff's Department, and the Orange County Health Care Agency have shut down six illegal vendors and confiscated their equipment. 

"These illegal vendors are extremely organized - days after we have seized their equipment, they are up and running again at a different location in the City," said Lake Forest Code Enforcement Supervisor Darrell Hill. "They have propane tanks out in the open, no running water, and often discharge oil, grease, and other waste in the City's storm drain system polluting local creeks and the ocean," Hill said. 

Lake Forest can only impound illegal food carts under the authority of the Orange County Health Care Agency. The items confiscated during the shutdown are transported to a secure location at City Hall for 30 days. After this period, the items may be sent to the dump unless the vendor claims the possessions through the county Health Care Agency. 

Sidewalk vending is legal in California. The state signed into law the Safe Street Vending Act in 2018. The law decriminalizes street vending and legalizes the practice under certain conditions. In Lake Forest, sidewalk vendors can sell their goods on a public sidewalk but must be a minimum of 500 feet from a public school and obtain an Outdoor Vending Permit. If they are selling food, they also need a Health Department and Peddler's License.