In Nashville, a bill seeks to make taco trucks illegal due to “health concerns”. Food safety or crafty way to make Mexicans disappear? You decide:

Cruz Maria Velazquez, the operator, said it was unfair to shut her business down just because others are dirty. As she spoke, she reached up and pulled down a see-through plastic folder showing the stand’s recent health scores, in the high 80s and low 90s. Speaking in Spanish as her daughter translated, she pointed to the counter along the front, showing that it was clean.

The Health Department found problems at the business in an earlier inspection, when it gave the cart a 71 score and cited problems including cracks in the floor and lack of water and sewage connections.

“What is very clear is that it would have a disproportionate impact on minority-owned small businesses,” said Stephen Fotopulos, policy director for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. “Now, whether it be a barbecue stand or a taco stand, not everyone can afford to buy a national franchise and set up shop in a strip mall.

The fact is, if the Health Department is scoring the trucks, they are licensed businesses and therefore should be allowed to operate. Punish those who violate but not the whole sector. Anyway, we are way too uptight about street food in this country. We seem to forget that the rest of the world eats like this and not in the air-conditioned comfort of their local Denny’s.

Via Ashland City Times and Hispanic Tips