Whatcom County, WA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Whatcom County adopts the Washington State Retail Food Code, Chapter 246-215 WAC, into its own health code at WCC § 24.03.020, applying it, as amended, to every 'food establishment' and 'temporary food establishment' as those terms are defined in WAC 246-215, Part 1, a definition broad enough to reach mobile food carts and trucks. The regulatory authority administering the program is the Whatcom County health department, per § 24.03.030(G).

Permits are the mechanism: § 24.03.040(A) requires a permit issued by the health department as provided in WAC 246-215-08300, and no permit issued under this chapter may run longer than one year regardless of type. A standing establishment's permit takes effect from the date of an initial satisfactory inspection and payment of the fee; a temporary food establishment's permit instead expires on the date printed on the permit, again capped at one year. The health department can suspend a permit for any of ten listed grounds, among them refusal or inability to immediately correct a 'red high risk factor' violation, repeating the same red high-risk violation on two inspections within six months, reaching 40 red high-risk hazard points or 100 total red-and-blue points twice within a 12-month period, obstructing a food safety inspector, or serving unsafe or adulterated food; suspended and revoked permits follow WAC 246-215-08600. Fees are not fixed in the code itself: § 24.03.060 leaves the amount to the Whatcom County Council, based on the cost of the inspection service, and failure to pay fines or fees can itself block a permit's issuance.