You've been running your truck for years. You know your operation. You know your food. You know your customers. You're not worried about passing a food safety inspection.
That's exactly the mindset that's getting experienced Texas operators shut down right now.
Under HB 2844, the DSHS pre-licensing inspection isn't testing whether you know how to run a food truck. It's testing 28 very specific items — and a lot of them have nothing to do with your cooking. They're procedural. They're technical. They're the kind of details that nobody puts in a training class because everyone assumes you already know.
You don't know what you don't know. Here's what you don't know.
These are the ones that catch operators completely off guard because they're not about food safety at all. They're about your vehicle's operational status.
Your food vending vehicle must be readily movable at time of inspection — meaning it can drive away under its own power, right now, without disconnecting anything. If your trailer is sitting on corner stabilizer jacks, scissor jacks, or leveling blocks, it is not readily movable. That's a failed inspection before the inspector walks inside.
Fix: Drop the jacks. Hitch up. Show up ready to roll.A lot of trailers that have been parked at semi-permanent locations have skirting installed around the base — wood panels, metal, or vinyl that enclose the undercarriage. This makes the unit appear permanently installed. Permanent installation = not readily movable = failed inspection. Remove all skirting before your inspection appointment.
Fix: Remove skirting entirely before inspection day.You drive your unit to a DSHS-designated inspection location. When you get there, your truck has to run completely on its own — no shore power, no external water, no external connections of any kind. Refrigeration, sinks, cooking equipment — all running off your onboard systems. What you do at your operating location day to day is a separate conversation. On inspection day, if it can't function without being plugged in, it fails. No skirting, not on blocks, no structural impediments — it drives in, gets inspected, drives out.
Fix: Before inspection day, run everything on your onboard systems only. If anything doesn't work without external power or water, fix it first.Inspectors cannot assess equipment they cannot observe in operation. If your flat top is cold, your fryer isn't hot, your steam table isn't holding temperature — those items cannot be verified as functional. Cold equipment at inspection time = cannot certify = failed. This is the single most common avoidable failure. Turn everything on at least one hour before your inspector arrives.
Fix: Everything on, at operating temp, one hour before inspection.Not at home. Not in your email. Not in the office. On the truck. Physically present, accessible, and current on inspection day.
Your commissary authorization letter from your CPF owner is required to be on your vehicle at all times — not just at inspection. If it's at home, in your email, or you left it in your car: failed. Same goes for the CPF's most recent health inspection report. Both documents. In the truck. Every time you operate.
Fix: Print both. Put them in a folder. They live in the truck permanently.Type III operators are required to have a certified food manager. Expired by one day — failed. Not physically on the truck — failed. From a non-ANSI accredited provider — failed. This catches operators who got certified years ago and let it lapse. ServSafe, Prometric, National Registry — it has to be current, valid, and accessible on inspection day.
Fix: Check your cert expiration date today. If it's within 90 days, renew now.Every food-handling employee working your truck needs a current food handler card from a DSHS-approved provider. If one person's card is at home, expired, or from an unapproved online provider — that employee is cited. If you have three people on your truck and one card is missing, that's a deficiency. Inspectors check every person present.
Fix: Collect every card. Keep copies in the truck. Check expirations before inspection.Your written menu must list every item you actually sell. If your regular menu says tacos, burritos, and quesadillas — but you also sell a special, a seasonal item, or items you only put on your Instagram — and those items involve TCS foods that aren't reflected in your menu or food handling documentation, that's a problem. Inspectors compare your stated menu to your actual setup. If something doesn't match, they ask questions.
Fix: Your written menu submitted to DSHS must reflect your full real operation.Your wastewater tank must be a minimum of 15% larger than your potable water tank. Not the same size. Not close. Exactly 15% larger or more. If you have a 50-gallon fresh water tank, you need at least a 57.5-gallon waste tank. Equal-size tanks fail every time. And both tanks must be labeled on the exterior — "potable water" and "wastewater" — inspectors look for the labels.
Fix: Measure your tanks. Do the math. Label both. Fix sizing before inspection.Your warewashing sink must be large enough to completely submerge your largest utensil, pan, or piece of removable equipment. Inspectors look at what you're actually cooking with. If you're running a comal, a large hotel pan, or a full-size stockpot and your sink can't submerge any of them — your sink fails. Compact sinks are the most common equipment failure on full-kitchen trucks.
Fix: Identify your largest item. Verify your sink can submerge it completely.This sounds almost too simple to fail — but inspectors physically check the handwashing sink. Empty soap dispenser: cited. Missing paper towels: cited. Bar soap instead of dispenser soap: cited in some cases. Your handwashing station has to be fully stocked and functional at the moment the inspector walks in.
Fix: Night before inspection — restock soap and paper towels. Check them again morning of.Every ventilation opening on your vehicle — exhaust fans, vents, pass-through windows, any opening to the outside — requires 16-mesh screening. That means 16 openings per linear inch. Operators who have open exhaust fans, loose screening, or gaps around window frames fail this. Pest entry prevention is a hard requirement, not a suggestion.
Fix: Walk the exterior. Check every opening. Install or repair screening before inspection.Cold holding must be at 41°F or below. Hot holding must be at 135°F or above. If your refrigerator hasn't fully cooled down or your steam table hasn't come up to temperature when the inspector checks — those are temperature violations. Equipment that is running but not yet at required temperature fails the same as equipment that is off. This is why you turn everything on a full hour before inspection, not five minutes before.
Fix: Everything on one hour early. Verify with a calibrated thermometer before inspector arrives.Every item on this list. Your specific truck. Your county. Your type. Your CPF situation. That's what the Pre-Inspection Review covers — so none of this shows up as a surprise on inspection day.
START MY REVIEW — WE BEGIN IMMEDIATELYEvery operator's situation is different. Some need a clear action plan. Some need someone in their corner through the whole process. Some need it handled completely.
We review your specific operation — your truck type, your county, your CPF situation, your equipment — against all 28 DSHS inspection points. You get a written action plan telling you exactly what to fix before your inspection appointment. Results in 48 hours. We start immediately.
Everything in the review, plus we work alongside you through every step of the DSHS application — gathering documentation, completing forms correctly, preparing for your inspection visit, and confirming compliance before you submit. One-on-one, start to finish.
You run your truck. We manage the entire DSHS licensing process — documentation, application, submission, inspection coordination — until your license is issued. Priority handling. We start immediately.
Se habla español — full bilingual service available on all packages.