SAN ANTONIO — Whether it's corn in a cup, frog legs or chicken on a stick, Fiesta food needs to be safe to eat.
That's why Metro Health will have dozens of inspectors working long hours over the next 11 days.
No matter what Fiesta food you may be throwing in your mouth, you want it to be safe to eat.
"We will be there every day checking the booths making sure they meet the minimum temporary food requirements," said Jerry Trevino, manager of Metro Health Sanitary and Services.
So what are the requirements?
"A hand wash station with soap and paper towels," Trevino said. "We ask them to have three buckets so they can properly wash rinse and sanitize any utensils they may drop."
They also require those selling the food and drink to wear a baseball cap or hairnet, and for the booth to have overhead protection to make sure nothing unwanted falls in your food.
"We will check to see their 'cold hold,' which is usually an ice chest with ice keep in the cold food cold. We will check for the hot food. A lot of time they will use a little steam tables or is just the grill itself to keep the hot food hot," Trevino said.
Metro Health will have 36 inspectors checking out over 900 booths at official Fiesta events, and another 100 at unofficial Fiesta events, making for a grand total of over 1,000 booths inspected every single day during the celebration.
"We will make sure the booth is set up on a solid surface like concrete or asphalt," Trevino said.
But the golden news from Metro Health according to Trevino: "We rarely have any major problems."