Wichita Falls health district: Illegal food sales on rise, including on social media

The Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District said they are experiencing a large influx of calls regarding illegal food sales, including selling of food on social media. 

With the holiday season approaching, it is becoming increasingly common to find individuals selling plate meals, tamales and other food without a permit.

The health district also said they are receiving complaints from individuals who have gotten ill after eating these foods.

According to city regulations, it is illegal to provide food to the public unless the food is prepared in a permitted and inspected kitchen, even if you are not accepting money for the food.

If a person wants to sell or provide food to the public they can go about doing it in one of two ways: a temporary event permit or a state manufactured-food license.

Individuals can get a temporary event permit from the health district. It allows distribution of food for a certain event in a particular location such as a hamburger feed for a fundraiser.

Another way of selling or providing food is to get a state manufactured-food license – the same one required for prepared and packaged foods that are sold from a retail food establishment. An example of a manufactured food item is canned salsa.

More information about the manufactured food license may be found at http://www.dshs.texas.gov/foods/manufacturers.aspx.

An exception to the law is a “cottage food” operation. For this designation, a person must have a current food handler’s card.

This operation can sell certain non-potentially hazardous food, such as cakes and pastries, that do not require refrigeration. These items can be prepared in a person’s home and must be labeled as prepared in a kitchen that is not inspected. 

A list of foods allowed to be sold by a cottage food operation as well as further explanation of the cottage food law may be found at https://www.dshs.texas.gov/foodestablishments/cottagefood/default.aspx.

The health district said they will continue to watch out for illegal food sales and will take enforcement action against individuals selling food illegally.

“This food is not inspected; there is no assurance that it was cooked and held at the proper temperatures, or prepared in a sanitary environment,” said the health district in a release this week. "We urge the public to not purchase and consume those food items that are sold illegally."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said each year, about one in six Americans gets sick and 3,000 die from food-borne disease.

Many people attribute the food poisoning to their most recent meal at a commercial food establishment, but the CDC said that is not usually the case.

“Most food-borne illnesses have a 24 to 48-hour incubation period before symptoms arise and some can even have incubation periods of a few months,” the health district said.

If a person believes they have contracted food poisoning, they should:

• Immediately write down a three-day food history that includes everything they consumed, including drinks and items prepared at home.
• Go to the doctor. A food-poisoning diagnosis is confirmed via a stool sample.
• If you have confirmed food poisoning, your doctor will contact the Health District and a food-borne illness investigation will be started. This is where the three-day food history becomes very important.

For more information about food-sale regulations in Wichita Falls, go to the health district website at http://www.wichitafallstx.gov/55/Health-District or call them at 940-761-7800.