Texas food trailer permits changed on July 1, 2026. Here's what actually applies now.

Last verified: 2026-08-19

What actually changed

House Bill 2844 passed in the 2025 legislative session and created Chapter 437B of the Texas Health and Safety Code, governing mobile food vendors. DSHS adopted implementing rules at 25 TAC Chapter 226, effective 19 May 2026. Licensing became mandatory on 1 July 2026.

Before that, Texas ran a split system. DSHS permitted mobile food units in counties with no local health department, and roughly sixty-five cities, counties and health districts ran their own programmes — Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Tarrant, Harris, El Paso, Lubbock, Corpus Christi and others. Each had its own fees, its own commissary rules, and its own build checklist. Operating in three cities meant three permits, three inspections and three sets of paperwork.

Now it's one licence, issued by DSHS, valid statewide. Many inspections are still carried out by your local health department, but under an agreement with DSHS rather than under its own authority — Houston's own page says plainly that "the City will continue inspections, but under State authority." Participation is optional, so in areas that declined, DSHS inspects directly.

The three licence types and what they cost

Which tier you fall into is determined by what you do with food, not by the size of your trailer.

So a Type III trailer's first-year state cost is roughly $1,376 — application plus pre-licensing inspection, both due at submission. Routine inspections run $500 for Type III and $400 for Type II. Amending a licence costs 50% of the application fee. Renewing late adds $100. There are also complaint/compliance inspection fees — around $300 / $400 / $500 by tier — and note that Type I does pay a complaint inspection fee even though it has no pre-licensing inspection.

One licence per vehicle (§437B.051). On the term: the statute says the licence expires on the first anniversary of the date of issuance (§437B.055), while the DSHS Mobile Food Vendor Guide describes it as one year from the successfully completed pre-licensing inspection. In practice those usually coincide, because issuance follows the inspection — but Type I has no pre-licensing inspection, so for Type I the issuance date is the one that matters. Renew annually.

Note also that Type I vendors were previously unregulated in many jurisdictions. HB 2844 pulls them in. If you've been selling prepackaged items without a permit, you now need one.

How to apply, step by step

1. 1

   Get your trailer to a licensable standard first

   The pre-licensing inspection requires the unit to be fully operable without external connections. Water in the tanks, hot water at the sinks, propane connected and tested, everything working. A half-finished trailer will not pass, and you'll pay the inspection fee again.

2. 2

   Apply through DSHS Online Licensing Services

   Application and pre-licensing fees are both due at submission. You'll declare your type, your menu, and your servicing arrangements.

3. 3

   Wait for your inspection letter, then schedule

   DSHS processes the application and issues a letter to schedule the pre-licensing inspection. State law requires the health inspection to be conducted not later than the 14th day after a complete application is received — by the department or by a governmental entity acting under a collaborative agreement, which in most cities means your local health department.

4. 4

   Pass the pre-licensing inspection

   Held at a designated location. Bring your paperwork as well as your trailer — a Certified Food Manager certificate where you handle TCS foods, and your servicing arrangements documented.

5. 5

   Get your local fire inspection

   Separate, still local, and required in practice everywhere with propane. Do it in parallel, not afterwards.

6. 6

   Sort the non-health paperwork

   Texas sales tax permit (allow 2–3 weeks), business registration or DBA, trailer title and registration with TxDMV, insurance, food handler cards.

The limits the new chapter puts on regulation

With that framing, the rules adopted under the chapter may not:

• limit the number of mobile food vendor licences the department may issue;
• address hours of operation;
• restrict propane capacity below what state law allows for commercial vehicles;
• require a vendor to:
  • operate outside a specific perimeter of a commercial establishment or restaurant;
  • enter into any agreement with a restaurant, except as necessary to dispose of grease and cooking waste;
  • have an operational handwashing sink if the vendor sells only prepackaged food;
  • associate with a commissary if the vehicle carries the equipment necessary to comply with state law;
  • provide fingerprints;
  • install a GPS tracking device;
  • keep the vehicle in constant motion except when serving;
  • submit to an additional fire inspection if the vendor can show the vehicle passed a state or local fire inspection within the preceding 12 months;
  • submit to health inspections other than by DSHS or a local authority under collaborative agreement (unless investigating a reported foodborne illness).

What cities can still require

Under §437B.101 you must comply with all state and local laws where you operate, including all fire codes, location restrictions and zoning codes. So what survives locally is:

• Fire marshal inspection — still local, still annual in practice, and still the most common non-health gate.
• Zoning and location restrictions — where you may and may not park.
• Right-of-way, park and special-event permits.
• Private property rules — landlords and event organisers will demand insurance certificates and written permission whatever the state says.

Austin, for example, still requires a Certified Food Manager, food handler cards within 60 days of employment, and a restroom facility agreement — and runs the most specific mobile fire inspection in the state at around $222, with a re-inspection after a fail costing the same again.

The commissary exemption — the biggest change for anyone buying a trailer

Under the old system, essentially every Texas jurisdiction required a signed commissary agreement. That's a recurring cost — commonly $400 to $1,500 a month — and it also constrained where you could service the unit.

The rules adopted under §437B.004(4)(D) may not require commissary association if the vehicle carries the equipment necessary to comply with state law, and 25 TAC §226.6 (adopted 19 May 2026) sets out the conditions. All of the following must be met:

Read that list again. Four of the eight are things the builder decides on the shop floor, and two are documents the builder should be helping you assemble. A recurring monthly cost has become a one-time build specification decision — which means the trailer you buy determines whether you pay a commissary for the next ten years.

If you don't qualify, you operate from a central preparation facility, keep the most recent CPF inspection report on the unit at all times, and maintain a servicing log of water fills and waste dumps with dates and times. A private residence may not be used as a CPF or a servicing area.

The new itinerary requirement

This one catches people. The statute (§437B.154) requires you to make available a list of intended operating locations through social media, a website, or the form the department prescribes. The DSHS rule adds the timing: the itinerary must be provided at least seven days before the first date listed on it (25 TAC §226.8). Not being findable per your itinerary, or not appearing for an inspection, can put your licence at risk.

Practically: keep your Facebook or Instagram page updated a week ahead, and treat it as a compliance document rather than marketing. It's the easiest requirement in the whole regime to satisfy and one of the easiest to forget.

What this means city by city

What HB 2844 did not change

The physical build standards are essentially unchanged, because Texas incorporates the FDA Food Code by reference rather than restating it. Your trailer still needs:

• a three-compartment sink with compartments large enough to completely submerge the largest equipment or utensil;
• a separate, accessible handwashing sink with soap and a drying device;
• a wastewater tank 15% larger than the potable water tank (Food Code §5-401.11), both permanently installed, sloped to drain and labelled;
• hot and cold water under pressure at every permanently installed sink;
• smooth, non-absorbent, light-coloured, easily cleanable surfaces with coved and sealed floor-to-wall junctions;
• 16-mesh screening at openings and self-closing, tight-fitting doors;
• lighting to Food Code levels — 50 foot-candles where anyone works with sharp equipment;
• a Type I hood and UL-300-listed suppression over anything producing grease-laden vapour;
• propane mounted to NFPA 58 and IFC §319, with a UL-2075-listed LP-gas alarm.

There is still no statewide minimum tank size. Old local minimums (Tarrant County's 15-gallon potable minimum, for instance) are superseded for licensing but remain sensible design floors. Anyone telling you 'Texas requires X gallons' is quoting a rule that no longer binds.

Full build specification and where each requirement comes from →

Five mistakes people are making right now

1. Building to a city checklist they downloaded in 2024. Several city pages still host the old packets. Build to Chapter 226 and the Food Code.
2. Assuming the local health department no longer matters. In many areas they're still the people who show up — just under a different authority.
3. Skipping the fire inspection until after the health licence. Do them in parallel. Fire is where trailers actually fail.
4. Signing a commissary agreement without checking whether they qualify for the exemption. That can be several hundred dollars a month, indefinitely, for no reason.
5. Not posting an itinerary. Seven days in advance. It's free and it's a licensing condition.