The city is about to put the bite on sleazy hot dog vendors.
The Department of Consumer Affairs says it’s launching a “crackdown” on food-cart hawkers who don’t display their prices after The Post found franks going for whatever the traffic would bear in the tourist-congested blocks around City Hall.
“We take consumer protection very seriously in New York City, and we want to make sure no visitor to our great city and no New Yorker is taken advantage of by unscrupulous vendors.”
Officials said the agency’s 50 inspectors have been instructed to begin paying special attention to rogue vendors who hide their prices to clip unwary tourists and others grabbing a cheap snack.
Violations of the posting law carry fines from $50 to $250.
Menin’s comments come after The Post spotted a dozen street vendors breaking the law right under the noses of city officials on Park Row, a thoroughfare for crowds of tourists headed to the World Trade Center site.
One vendor, Mohammed Ahad, first tried to sell a reporter a jumbo frank for $7 — and then upped the price an hour later to $8.
When confronted about the apparent price gouging, he became ketchup-red and pulled out a printed list of prices buried behind the counter. It listed a “hot dog” at $4.
Ahad began posting his prices Monday and claimed he raised the price for the jumbo frank an extra buck for “sauerkraut” — even though the reporter never asked for any toppings.
Another vendor a block away was seen haggling with customers, first trying to score $7 for a jumbo frank before settling for $5 and throwing in a bottle of water.
The brouhaha over beefed-up food-cart prices began after vendor Ahmed Mohammed was caught near the World Trade Center trying to burn tourists by charging as much as $30 for a single hot dog.
He was fired and slapped last week with three citations that could cost the cart’s owner as much as $1,500 in fines.
Consumer Affairs officials said they have received 20 complaints about food vendor ripoffs since 2014, although it is unknown how many were submitted by tourists.
The agency says anyone who doesn’t see prices posted on a food cart or is charged more than the posted price should call 311 or submit a complaint to the agency online at nyc.gov/consumer.