WASHINGTON — On the Washington, D.C. Reddit page, a post has gone viral, apparently showing a food truck operator filling a jug with water from a public fountain. The post quickly got over 1,200 up-votes, and hundreds of comments.
"This could put someone in the ER pronto," wrote one user.
"Report it to the department of health," wrote another.
But the operators of the Boba tea - Ice cream food truck told WUSA9 that the photos were taken out of context. When our crews visited the truck on Monday morning, parked outside of the Air And Space Museum, workers quickly invited us inside.
"You can come inside and see everything," said Mary Nguyen, the grandmother of the food truck's owner.
Nguyen claimed that the water from those jugs were only used to wash the floor of the truck, and the sidewalk outside. She vehemently denied ever using the water in drinks or to clean utensils.
"They can not lie for long," she said. "You come and you'll see it. You'll see everything is clean."
WUSA9 reached out to DC's Department of Health to ask about the post. A spokesperson confirmed that they had received a complaint about the issue.
"The complaint has been assigned for investigation," a DC Health statement read. "The sanitarian assigned will conduct a full inspection, verify all documentation (e.g., health certification, depot/commissary/support facility letter, and license and vending badge issued by DCLP) are current, and address the nature of the complaint (e.g., water source) with the vendor."
Jerry Juan Pascual was working at the food truck Monday morning, and said that the owners were pretty worried about the Reddit post.
"They've been frustrated," he said. "They've been shocked. They're scared that they're going to lose their customers over a post like that."
WUSA9 reached out to the original poster on Reddit, but have so far not heard back.