Rise in unregulated food complaints sparks Wake County safety campaign

There’s been a rise in complaints about people making food in their home and selling it on social media in Wake County. It’s even led to some people getting sick.

"We have had a couple of complaints on food borne illness on dining from unregulated food trucks in the last 3 months," says Ashley Whittington, an Environmental Health Program Manager with Wake County Environmental Health and Safety.

Whittington says, not only can this be illegal and dangerous, but it's also challenging to investigate.

"We have no way of assessing where the foods are coming from," Whittington said. “Is it, meats that were slaughtered in a federally inspected commercial facility? Where is the produce coming from? How was it farmed? Has the food been abused through temperature or lack of packaging,” were just a few of the food safety concerns Whittington says they just don’t have answers to when people are selling unregulated food from their home.

It’s against the law to sell regulated foods out of your home like: Meats, fish, eggs, cooked vegetables, products containing cut tomatoes, cut leafy greens, cut melons and sprouts.

Whittington says one of the biggest challenges in preventing this is: health officials can only chase down leads when they get a complaint.

"We do not have the resources to have staff members researching social media looking for illegal activity throughout the day," Whittington explained.

He said foodborne illness outbreaks are also underreported or not reported at all.

In response to the rise in complaints, the county launched an awareness campaign; diving into how to make and sell food the right way and what rules and regulations need to be followed.

”There are avenues for startup food service businesses,” Whittington said. “We want the opportunity to direct some of these entrepreneurs and first-time food service business owners, on how to do this in compliance with the rules and regulations that are currently in place.”

But Whittington also warned anyone buying food from someone’s home, to be cautious.

"It’s very difficult, if not impossible to get a permit in a residential space from a local health department," he said.

There are low-risk foods like baked goods, jams, candies and spices can be made and sold under certain conditions set by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The county says they will also distribute fliers as part of this campaign and look to educate vendors before writing citations or turning to criminal charges.