The proliferation of rogue street food vendors — largely run by illegal migrants — is not only hitting Los Angeles with third-world-like blight, Democratic leaders have decided to do nothing despite being aware of horrifying health hazards, their own previously unreleased records reveal.
“A dog eating meat out of a street vendor’s bag before it was served to customers. Cockroaches crawling out of a food truck. Mice scurrying beside open salsa. Raw meat baking unrefrigerated in the heat. People urinating around cooking equipment.”
Those are just some of shocking allegations listed in a staggering 662-page dossier of 9,746 public health complaints about street food vendors filed across Los Angeles County from 2023 until early 2026, according to the California Post, which obtained the list only after it made a public records request.
Despite the health threat, both the county health department and Mayor Karen Bass have suspended all street enforcement of permit, inspection and food safety laws on the books, both citing the lack of action to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration enforcement.
In short, progressive leaders have extended the “sanctuary city” to illegally served food.
Meanwhile, licensed restaurants and legitimate vendors run by U.S. citizens are subject to costly permits, inspections, and insurance requirements. Compliant food providers can be sanctioned, fined and even put out of business for violations of the law.
The revelation of complaints from the public follows an exclusive investigative report on illegal street vendors by Breitbart News in July, with Breitbart also reporting that the sanctuary policy was not only is being applied in L.A. but other progressive-run cities like New York and Minneapolis.
The proliferation of street food operations, Breitbart reported, stems partly from the massive influx during the Biden administration of illegal aliens who have flooded the California labor market and have taken to serving food from their native countries in order to survive.
The lack of action to protect the public from food borne illnesses from street vendors is particularly ironic in that Los Angeles County Department of Health is headed by Dr. Barbara Ferrer.
During the Covid epidemic Ferrer gained a national reputation for her sweeping, draconian shutdowns, claiming they were necessary to preserve public health.
The health department told Breitbart News in July that its previously stated policy from 2025 to stop street food enforcement to protect migrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was being continued so it could “target the larger organizations” that it said “control” many of the vendors — apparently illegal migrant gangs.
On Thursday, Karen Bass officially announced that she ordered the Los Angeles Police Department no longer cite and fine unpermitted vendors, saying “street vending is a quintessential part of L.A.’s world class food scene.”
However, there was nothing “world class” about the list obtained by the Post. The complaints were more in keeping with a Third World slum.
The list replicated some of the unsanitary conditions Breitbart News observed in July at street outlets, including perishable meat being stored uncovered in the hot sun, lack of handwashing stations and workers not observing the kind of food safety practices found in most restaurants.
The Post’s report Sunday highlighted a complaint about taco stand in a South Bay suburb where workers had nowhere to wash their hands and weren’t changing gloves.
“There was also a dog eating meat from the bag and the guy still continued to serve the meat from that bag,” the complaint stated. The case was marked as “closed.”
Another complainant near the L.A. airport reported open salsa and condiments positioned near trash cans as mice scurried about. That complaint was marked “canceled.”
Another complaint in Venice Beach stated that hot dogs, buns, and condiments sat “heating in the sun all day long.” That complaint was marked “justified.”
“The LA County Public Health Department declined to provide specifics [to the Post] about what those determinations meant, or whether any action occurred as a result,” the tabloid reported.
As of September 2024, an estimated 50,000 street vendors operate throughout the city, while only 687 have active vending permits. An estimated 10,000 of those sell fruit, hot dogs, tamales, tacos, burritos and other food items.
Only 53 of the city permits were for food vendors, according to the Post.
The county health department fielded nearly 3,000 food poisoning complaints in 2025, with many more suspected and never reported, according to officials.
Stuart Waldman, CEO of the Los Angeles Business Federation, told the Post that the complaints were “worse than I thought.”
“It’s crazy to think that a brick-and-mortar restaurant can be shut down if the employees don’t wash their hands, they leave butter out overnight, their refrigerator runs two degrees warmer than they’re supposed to,” he said.
He added, “And street food vendors don’t have bathrooms, employees aren’t washing their hands, they don’t have refrigeration — you name it.”
The Post also spoke with George Francisco, board chair of the Westside Council of Chambers of Commerce and co-chair of the Los Angeles County Business Federation’s Responsible Governance Committee.
He called the complaints were “not surprising.”
“I’ve seen worse and I’ve probably seen more, personally,” he told the Post. “The idea of a box truck pulling up with slabs of compressed meat sitting in the back, being popped on a skewer and being roasted for sale, is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen.”
By law, in the City of Los Angeles, sidewalk vendors need a city vending permit, while those selling food also require an LA County public-health permit.
However, both the city and county have applied a sanctuary policy and set all enforcement aside.
Mayor Bass has gone even a step further by saying her administration is working to dismiss all criminal citations that she claims were improperly issued.
Both the Post and Breitbart News have asked the mayor’s office for comment about the threat to public health and received no response. Breitbart previously also received no response from influential council member Tracy Park, who ran for reelection on a “pubic safety” platform.
Bass’s new hands off policy is opposed by far-left Councilwoman Nithya Raman, her opponent in the mayoral race. She argues the city should make it easier for vendors to obtain permits and enter the legal system.
“Street vending is a vibrant part of Los Angeles, and it can coexist with our brick-and-mortar businesses when vendors are operating safely, cleanly, following all appropriate rules, and with a license,” her office said in a statement to the Post.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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