Rats have been enjoying late night slices at a Chelsea pizza truck that caters to area night spots, according to video obtained by NBC New York.
The Vinny Vincenz Pizza truck is parked across the street from exclusive nightclub Pink Elephant. Video shot by an onlooker on his cell phone shows rats scampering around the truck, jumping on coolers and helping themselves to pizza pies.
Owner Salvatore Olivella said the rats showed up when workers forgot to put away old pies when shown the footage Thursday. The slices they were noshing on were leftovers, not to be sold to customers.
Even so, some locals were outraged.
"He shouldn't be out here selling that," a man who identified himself only as Reggie told NBC New York, but he admitted to eating the pizza in the past. "It's a dangerous part to the health of the people, out here selling rat pizza."
Another man, who identified himself as JD, said rats were regular customers at the truck.
"What happens if my family goes in there and buys some pizza and they get poisoned?," he told the TV station.
The people who shot the video work near where the truck is parked at 27th Street between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, according to NBC New York.
Olivella said the trucks are sanitized every day with bleach, but that he also replaced the truck in question.
He dismissed any ideas that the pizza he served was unsanitary.
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