Selling Food to the Public Runs Through Environmental Health

Gabriel Arroyo's Environmental Health office at 313 North Rachal Ave. in Sinton is where food vendors get signed off, and it handles the whole spread from one counter: plan review for a new restaurant, the temporary-food permit for a booth at a weekend event, the rules for a mobile food unit, the food-handler classes, and the restaurant inspection scores anybody can look up. The same crew also writes the OSSF septic permits, so the main line at (361) 587-3500 covers more than food. Officers like Audrey Sierra, the office's designated representative, are the ones who actually walk a site.

How small an operation can be and still need paperwork surprises a lot of vendors. A two-day taco stand at a fundraiser, a snow-cone trailer, a concession window: each can need a permit, an inspection, or a food-safety card before the first sale, not after the cash starts moving.

Timing is the part to mind if you're aiming at a specific event date. Temporary-food permits and handler cards take a little lead time, and the 2026 Food Handler Schedule fills up, so showing up the morning of with nothing filed is how a vendor gets turned away at the gate. The 2024 service-fee sheet lays out what each permit and card runs, and it pays to price the whole stack before you commit to a booth.