A few seconds of video were enough to ignite outrage across the country, as well as coverage by TMZ and Newsweek, among many other media outlets: a public health inspector pouring bleach over tubs of food at Taco Tacocolorado, a popular Denver street taco stand parked off South Colorado Boulevard on November 15, when investigators from the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment arrived.
The Denver Department of Public Health & Environment was quick to come clean and put that video in context. According to DDPHE officials, the video captures only a few moments of a months-long effort to bring Taco Tacolorado into compliance with basic food safety rules. The stand had been operating without a license despite repeated attempts by multiple jurisdictions – everywhere from Colorado Springs to Arvada and Lakewood – to educate the operator and provide a path to legal operation.
But bleach? Was that government overkill, or a move to prevent tainted food — including meat kept at dangerously warm temperatures — from making consumers sick. The comments came in fast and furious on the Westword Facebook story on the incident. Says John:…