Health district urges caution on unpermitted vendors, offers free well nitrate testing

The Benton-Franklin Health District on Wednesday warned Pasco officials about a resurgence of unpermitted mobile food vendors and announced expanded assistance for private-well owners worried about nitrates.

Deputy City Manager Miss Sigdell introduced Aaron Hakaday, the district’s surveillance and investigation director, who told the council the regional task force is seeing a shift from taco-style booths to unpermitted fruit-cart operations that “have no water. There’s no produce washing. There’s no ability for any sort of sanitation on the carts.” He said the district and local law enforcement are coordinating a cross-jurisdictional enforcement approach to avoid pushing vendors from one city to another.

The district’s public affairs director, Amanda Moe, outlined a bilingual public-education campaign using a sticker and QR code system that will link customers to inspection reports so they can “look before you bite. Eat with confidence,” she said. Moe said the campaign is optional for vendors but intended to help permitted operators stand out.

Hakaday also described the district’s nitrate work: a grant-funded GIS mapping of historic private-well nitrate tests and a new Department of Health grant that will let Benton and Franklin County residents bring private-well samples to the district lab for free testing. “Of the samples that we put on the map, about 23% of the samples that you see on the total map were over 10 milligrams, which is considered high nitrate,” Hakaday said, noting that infants and pregnant people are at higher risk from nitrate exposure. The district said eligible lower-income residents may also receive countertop reverse-osmosis units and filters at no cost.

Public commenters described on-the-ground problems with unpermitted vendors. Salisbury, who said he is from Kennewick, told the council he used a temperature gun on vendors and found frequently unsafe conditions, including meat and salsas “in the danger zone.” Another resident urged the agencies to coordinate across jurisdictions and use established neighborhood and social groups to spread both food-safety and nitrate testing information.

The council asked about outreach and technical fixes to the QR system; district staff said they have a staff member dedicated to outreach and suggested follow-up events, flyers, school nights and targeted neighborhood promotion. Hakaday said the multiagency task force plans to improve real-time data sharing so partners can track complaints and enforcement actions across the Tri-Cities.

Next steps: staff and the health district will continue community outreach, and the district encouraged private-well owners to use the free testing and, if eligible, request treatment units.