TAMPA, FL. Inspectors visiting Florida Cracker Fish Company on Ehrlich Road on September 4 found the restaurant could not demonstrate it was following procedures to destroy parasites in fish served to customers, one of seven high-severity violations documented during a single visit to the seafood restaurant.
The facility was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation is among the most specific dangers inspectors documented. At a seafood restaurant, fish intended for raw or lightly cooked preparation must be frozen to precise temperatures for set durations to kill parasites including Anisakis roundworms and tapeworm larvae. No documentation that this process was being followed was recorded during the visit.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification and records. Oysters, clams, and mussels served without proper tags or harvest records cannot be traced to their source if a customer becomes ill.
Two more high-severity citations compounded the food safety picture. Employees were cited for not reporting illness symptoms, and inspectors found improper handwashing technique in use. Food contact surfaces were found not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory notifying customers that raw or undercooked items carry elevated risk, a requirement specifically designed to protect elderly diners, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system. A person in charge was either absent or not actively performing food safety duties during the inspection.
On the intermediate level, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is not a paperwork problem. Fish such as flounder, snapper, and grouper can carry Anisakis larvae, which survive light cooking and can cause severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and intestinal obstruction in people who swallow them. The required freezing protocol, typically minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit for seven days or colder temperatures for shorter periods, exists specifically because heat alone cannot reliably kill these parasites in all preparations. Without records showing this step was completed, there is no way to confirm it happened.
The shellfish traceability gap carries a separate and serious risk. Oysters and clams are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water. When a harvest tag is missing or records are incomplete, there is no way to identify the source bed if customers fall ill. Traceability is the only mechanism that allows health officials to pull a contaminated supply from the market before more people are exposed.
The illness reporting and handwashing violations together create a direct transmission route for pathogens including norovirus and hepatitis A. Improper handwashing technique, meaning insufficient duration, missing steps, or inadequate soap use, can leave viable pathogens on hands even after a wash. At a facility where food contact surfaces were also cited as improperly cleaned, the potential for bacterial transfer across multiple surfaces and food items compounds that risk.
The sewage violation is notable in a facility handling raw shellfish and fish. Improper wastewater disposal introduces the possibility of fecal contamination anywhere in the kitchen environment.
The Longer Record
The September 4 inspection was not an isolated bad day. State records show Florida Cracker Fish Company has been inspected 25 times and has accumulated 211 total violations across its history on record.
The pattern of high-severity citations is consistent across years. In January 2026, inspectors documented eight high-severity and three intermediate violations. In February 2025, there were six high-severity and one intermediate. October 2023 produced six high-severity violations. The only clean inspection in recent years on record came in April 2023, when inspectors cited zero violations at any level.
The September 2026 visit, with seven high-severity citations, ties the facility's worst single-inspection performance in this data set alongside the January 2026 visit.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record, despite repeated high-severity violation counts across multiple inspection cycles. The violations documented in September, including parasite destruction failures and missing shellfish records, are not new categories of concern. They represent the same categories of risk that inspectors have returned to find, repeatedly, over years.
Still Open
State inspectors cited seven high-severity violations at a seafood restaurant, including failures to document parasite destruction in fish and missing traceability records for shellfish served to customers. They documented improper sewage disposal, improperly cleaned utensils, and employees not following illness reporting requirements.
Florida Cracker Fish Company on Ehrlich Road remained open after the inspection.
