A virtual ridealong with the food cops

Inspectors with Los Angeles County’s street vending compliance program encounter a stomach-churning array of unsafe food preparation practices as they work with law enforcement to conduct regular raids across the region. These photos provided by the Department of Public Health offer a glimpse of what the inspectors come across, from illicit hot dog carts and unlicensed taquerias to raw meat and seemingly innocent fruit being stored at unhealthily warm temperatures. As the county moves forward with a proposal to issue letter grades to law-abiding mobile food vendors, its war on the outlaws continues unabated.