OCOEE, FL. State inspectors visited New China Chinese Restaurant on West Road on September 8 and left it open, despite finding that the kitchen had no documented procedure for destroying parasites in fish, pork, or other raw proteins served to customers.
That single violation, parasite destruction procedures not followed, means that any fish or pork dish served without proper freezing or thorough cooking could carry live Anisakis worms or Trichinella into a customer's meal. The restaurant was not emergency-closed. It continued serving food.
What Inspectors Found
The September 8 inspection produced 11 violations total, 8 of them high severity. Inspectors cited the restaurant for no employee health policy, meaning there was no written plan in place to keep sick workers out of the kitchen. They also found that toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near the food operation.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that touch what customers eat, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Single-use items were being reused. Waste was not being disposed of properly, a condition that invites rodents and insects.
The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, and inspectors flagged inadequate shell stock records for shellfish. Inspectors noted that time as a public health control was not being properly applied, meaning food that should have been tracked by time in the temperature danger zone was not being monitored.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction citation is among the most direct physical threats in the inspection record. When a restaurant serves fish or pork without verified freezing protocols or fully cooked preparation, parasites including Anisakis roundworms and Trichinella can survive into the finished dish. Anisakis infections cause severe abdominal pain and can require surgical removal of larvae from the intestinal wall.
The allergen violation is just as immediate. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When kitchen staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, a customer with a peanut, shellfish, or soy allergy who asks whether a dish is safe cannot trust the answer they receive.
The chemical storage violation adds a separate and acute risk. Improperly stored or unlabeled cleaning agents and pesticides near food prep areas can contaminate food directly, causing poisoning that may not be recognized as such until after the meal.
The employee health policy citation closes the loop. Without a written policy requiring sick workers to stay home or be removed from food handling, a single employee with Norovirus can transmit illness to dozens of customers before anyone identifies the source. Norovirus accounts for roughly 20 million infections in the United States each year, and restaurant-linked outbreaks are among the most common vectors.
The Longer Record
The September 8 inspection was not an outlier. State records show New China has been inspected 20 times and has accumulated 159 violations across that history. The most recent eight inspections, dating back to October 2022, show a facility that has never been cited for fewer than 1 high-severity violation in a single visit, and in most visits the count has been substantially higher.
The pattern is consistent and escalating. Inspectors found 3 high-severity violations in March 2023, then 4 in July 2023, then 7 in March 2024, then 4 again in September 2024, then 5 in March 2025, then 6 in November 2025, then 7 in May 2026, and now 8 in September 2026. That is nine consecutive inspections with high-severity violations, and the September 2026 count is the highest single-visit total in the available record.
The facility has never been emergency-closed. Not once across 20 inspections and 159 documented violations has the state ordered New China to shut its doors to protect public health.
Still Open
After the September 8 inspection, New China Chinese Restaurant on West Road remained open for business.
Eight high-severity violations, including a failure to protect customers from parasites, a failure to demonstrate allergen awareness, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and no written plan to keep sick workers away from food, were documented by a state inspector. The inspector left. The restaurant kept serving.
That is the record as of September 8, 2026.
