Food safety

Silo is a marketplace for California MEHKO-permitted home kitchens, food trucks, and street vendors. Every cook operates under a real public-health permit, and food safety is shared between the cook, the customer, and us.

Every cook is permitted

Before any listing goes live, a cook must hold a valid California Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) permit, or the equivalent retail food permit for trucks and carts, issued under AB 626. We collect the permit number, verify it, and re-check it against its expiration date on an ongoing basis.

What cooks agree to

• Hold a current MEHKO or retail food permit and a valid food handler card.
• Cook, hold, and transport food at safe temperatures, following safe handling practices.
• Disclose major allergens (milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, sesame) on every listing.
• Never cook for sale while sick, and use Illness Pause to take listings down.
• Label dishes accurately and keep their kitchen consistent with their permit.

What Silo does

• Verify each cook's permit before listings go live, and flag expired permits automatically.
• Require allergen disclosure as part of creating a drop.
• Give customers a clear way to report a safety concern, and route serious reports to the county.
• Suspend cooks who lose their permit or are the subject of a verified complaint.

What Silo is not

Silo is a marketplace, not a kitchen inspector or a regulator. We do not physically inspect kitchens. Public-health authority sits with your county environmental health department. Eating food prepared in a home kitchen carries inherent risk, which California law requires us to make clear.

If something is wrong

If you feel unwell after a Silo order, or have a serious safety concern, contact us right away at safety@silo.market and your local health department. Los Angeles County Environmental Health: 888-700-9995.