Most Taste of Chicago Vendors Had Health Code Violations

Inspectors documented overflowing garbage, clogged sinks and food being prepared in bushes during the festival. Some problems were minor, including missing food safety licenses; others involved food held at unsafe temperatures in summer heat. Ten vendors had five or more violations, and two had nine.

City rules required applicants to submit a clean inspection from a restaurant or food truck conducted within six months before applying. Only 35 of the 81 vendors met that standard. All had a health department pass on file before the festival, but some passes were outdated or conditional, and nine restaurants failed inspections between applying and the event.

Ponce Restaurant failed three of its four inspections on the first day of Taste, including over food temperatures. Days later, that issue prompted Ponce to throw away 95 pounds of pork, plantains, lettuce and tomatoes. Ponce had passed a July 2 inspection after failing one in June that documented mouse droppings at its restaurant.

Yummy Halal’s food truck had failed an inspection in June after an inspector found rat droppings and wastewater leaking onto a street. At Taste, it failed five inspections, including for temperature-control problems, and was shut down for the day because it lacked a certified manager on site. The city recorded no signs of foodborne illness linked to the 2026 festival. In 2007, a Salmonella outbreak tied to a Taste vendor’s hummus sickened more than 300 people.