The inspection

How an inspection actually goes

Inspections are not a lottery. Health inspectors and fire inspectors each work a route around the truck, and the route is learnable. This page is the short version — the kit's checklists are the full walk-throughs, written to be used with a pencil at the truck.

The health route: handwashing first (a stocked, accessible hand sink with hot water is the single most-checked item in mobile food); then water and waste (tank sizes, fill and dump arrangements, hoses); then temperatures (cold holding at or below 41°F, hot holding at or above 135°F, a working thermometer); then food storage and separation; then surfaces, utensils, and the warewashing setup; then the paperwork — permit, commissary documentation, food-handler credentials where required.

The fire route: the suppression system over the cooking line (tagged and serviced); the right extinguisher, reachable (Class K where fryers run); propane — tank mounting, lines, leak checks, and storage; generator and electrical safety; clearances between the truck, the public, and anything flammable.

What fails trucks, honestly: not exotic violations — dead basics. No hot water at the hand sink. A commissary letter that expired. An extinguisher tag out of date. Tanks without caps, hoses without backflow protection. The inspections reward boring readiness and punish improvisation, which is good news: boring readiness is entirely within your control, and it can be checked the night before with a list.

Two framing notes we will not bend: no checklist — ours included — can promise how an inspection comes out, because inspectors judge the truck in front of them. And an inspection you schedule prepared is a different event from one that finds you mid-service. Read your jurisdiction's items on the state table, then work the full lists in the kit before the date, not during it.