Those roadside orange juice carts and empanada street vendors may soon be a thing of the past.

After a University of Costa Rica study determined many are contaminated with fecal matter, city officials have set about confiscating the carts and destroying them. 

“We will be doing confiscations every day,” said Teo Dinarte, spokesman for the San José Municipality.

Dinarte explained that street vendors are not held to the same standards as those who sell food from a storefront and that food can become contaminated in the process of moving from the kitchen, through the streets and to the consumer.

“From a sampling of a large group of (carts), the fact that countless were contaminated called the attention of health authorities to the danger they represent to the population,” read a press release from the San José Municipality.

The municipality received authorization from the Health Ministry to undertake the confiscations. Previously, such street vendors were issued fines between 2,000 and 5,000 colones.

Marcelo Solano, municipal police coordinator, estimates as many as 500 street vendors will be affected.