Fresh from the truck

Don’t call them “roach coaches” anymore. If the county Board of Supervisors approves a proposal suggested by health officials to apply letter grades to lunch trucks, Angelenos will have to come up with a new nickname for the popular mobile eateries. “Spic-and-span vans?” “Bugless buggies?” “Hygiene machines?”

OK, we’ll work on that. Nomenclature aside, it’s past time to apply the same successful grading system used to asses sanitary conditions at brick-and-mortar restaurants to mobile food vendors. There are nearly 10,000 such vendors —everything from hot dog and ice cream carts to full-service catering trucks — operating in the county, but because they’re on wheels, it’s hard for health inspectors to keep track of them. Under the proposal, vendors would have to file travel routes and times with the county so the Health Department could conduct unannounced twice-yearly inspections. They would get a letter grade from A to C depending on their compliance with health rules, and unacceptable vendors could be shut down.

The plan wouldn’t just be good for public health; it would be good for the vendors. Although gourmet lunch trucks have become increasingly popular in recent years, some customers are still doubtless put off by the thought of eating something prepared in what looks like a Winnebago with vents. A seal of approval from the Health Department might put them at ease. Supervisors may vote on the measure as soon as next week, and they should approve it.

We’re less enthusiastic about separate plans in the city of Los Angeles, where Councilman Tom LaBonge has called for feasibility studies on restricting parking for lunch trucks or creating special parking zones for them. We can understand LaBonge’s frustration. His district includes the Miracle Mile on Wilshire Boulevard, packed with high-rise office buildings that aren’t adequately served by restaurants. The result is a lunchtime free-for-all as lunch trucks flock to the area, often remaining parked beyond the legal limit and taking parking spaces from businesses that need them. Yet LaBonge’s stated reason for considering the regulations — lunch trucks lure customers from brick-and-mortar restaurants and create a mobile society in which we “lose our sense of community” — is anticompetitive and more than a little quaint in a city where mobile food vendors have been a cultural and culinary mainstay for decades.

We’ll hold our fire on LaBonge’s plans until he drafts something; there may be room for restrictions, especially if they’re confined to Wilshire and don’t apply to vendors citywide. But as the county learned in 2008 when supervisors tried to ban food trucks from parking for more than an hour, only to see the ordinance overturned in court, excessive limits are a bad idea.