Large amounts of fruit, vegetables dumped onto streets in downtown Los Angeles

Large amounts of fruit and vegetables are being dumped on the streets of downtown Los Angeles and city officials are trying to identify who is responsible.

The aftermath looks less like a city sidewalk and more like a produce market gone wrong. For weeks, sanitation crews say they've been cleaning up tons of fruits and vegetables dumped onto the street.

City crews cleared a mess Tuesday morning, but by Wednesday night, new pallets of food waste were back, dumped again on corners like 15th Street and Hooper, Olympic and Naomi and Olympic and Hooper. Each time, sanitation has to haul away spoiled produce before it spreads or attracts pests.

Security camera footage from a nearby business shows a forklift dropping a pallet full of produce in the area and then backing away. 

Mayor Karen Bass' office reached out to CBS Los Angeles, saying these are not victimless crimes. They said dumping large amounts of rotting food creates unsanitary conditions and blight and they're urging residents to report illegal dumping by calling 311.

Some business owners in the area are concerned by the potential health threat that the continued nuisance could bring, especially with the rats and other pests decaying produce will attract. Recently, the LA County Department of Public Health issued a warning over flea-borne cases of typhus. 

In 2023, LAPDH reported 31 cases of the bacterial infection, a number that nearly doubled in 2024 and has grown to 105 in the first eight months of 2025. 

On Instagram, videos show toppled pallets of parsley and melons scattered across the road. One downtown resident told CBS Los Angeles off-camera that the food looks like rejected product, spoiled or unsellable, that workers simply toss out as a "free-for-all." What makes it more puzzling is that it's happening in areas not heavily traveled.

Estela Lopez, the executive director of the Downtown Industrial Business Improvement District, says that businesses are probably dumping their produce in order to avoid paying commercial trash hauling fees. 

"So, businesses are getting away with dumping trash. There is no enforcement. There is no prevention," Lopez said. "Ultimately, all of us have to pay because the taxpayers are paying to pick this stuff up."

LA City Council District 14 says they're working with sanitation to keep these blocks clean, but the source of all this food is still under investigation. 

"We will continue to monitor the area and coordinate with LASAN on regular clean-ups and long-term solutions," said a statement from Council woman Ysabel Jurado's office.

For now, city crews will keep cleaning up the mess while neighbors keep asking who is doing the dumping.