Texas Mobile Food Vendors Must Obtain Statewide Licenses Starting July 1

SAN ANGELO, TX — All mobile food vendors operating in Texas will be required to hold a license from the Texas Department of State Health Services beginning July 1 under a new state law. 

House Bill 2844, passed by the Legislature on May 26, 2025, shifts licensing authority from local health departments to a single statewide system administered by DSHS. Previously, vendors needed separate licenses from each local jurisdiction where they operated. 

Vendors will be assigned one of three license types based on their food preparation activities. A new fee schedule tied to the license type has also been established. 

Type I applies to vendors who do not sell any time-and-temperature control for safety (TCS) foods or who are otherwise deemed low risk to the public. Examples include prepackaged ice cream vendors and prepackaged non-TCS snack vendors. 

Type II covers vendors who sell prepackaged TCS foods requiring limited handling and preparation, or who sell TCS foods prepared to order and served for immediate consumption. It also includes vendors whose processes involve preparing, cold holding, thawing or reheating commercially processed or packaged products. Examples include coffee trucks, snow cone vendors and hot dog vendors. 

Type III is for vendors who prepare, cook, hold and serve food from a food vending vehicle. This includes processes such as hot holding, cold holding, thawing, cooking, cooling or reheating. Examples include burger trucks, BBQ trucks and taco trucks. 

A food vending vehicle is defined as a self-enclosed food service establishment — including catering trucks, trailers and roadside vendors — or pushcart designed to be readily movable that stores, prepares, displays, serves or sells food. It does not include stands or booths. 

Applications will be available through DSHS Online Licensing Services. Until July 1, 2026, vendors must continue following all requirements of their current local licensing jurisdiction. 

After DSHS processes an application, the vendor will be contacted to schedule a pre-licensing inspection. 

Vendors with an existing mobile food unit or vendor license from a local Texas health department may continue operating while their application is processed if they provide proof of the current license, submit the application and pay the required fees, and print and keep the application summary on their vehicle at all times. 

Vendors without a current license anywhere in Texas may not operate until the pre-licensing inspection is completed. DSHS will prioritize those applications. 

Vendors who successfully complete the pre-licensing inspection will receive a DSHS mobile food vendor license that expires one year from the date of the inspection.

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