ORLANDO, FL. Food at Season God on Old Winter Garden Road was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures when a state inspector visited on September 10, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella can survive in poultry and reach a customer's plate. That finding was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
The September inspection also turned up toxic chemicals stored improperly or without adequate labeling near food preparation areas. Inspectors cited the facility for two separate handwashing failures: employees not washing their hands adequately, and employees using improper technique when they did wash, a distinction that matters because flawed technique leaves pathogens on hands even after a wash attempt. The facility had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised had no way of knowing the risk before ordering.
Three intermediate violations accompanied the six high-severity findings. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned. Single-use items were being reused. Ventilation and lighting were inadequate.
What Inspectors Found
The food contact surface violation compounds the handwashing failures. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and equipment that are not properly sanitized become transfer points for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat food, even when an employee believes they have cleaned the surface. Paired with the undercooking violation, the combination creates multiple points in the food preparation process where pathogens can both survive and spread.
The chemical storage violation is distinct from the others in that it carries an acute risk rather than a cumulative one. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers can be mistaken for food-safe products. This is not a paperwork violation.
What These Violations Mean
Undercooking is among the most direct routes to foodborne illness documented in state inspection records. Salmonella in poultry does not become safe through partial cooking. It requires sustained heat at or above the minimum required temperature to be killed. When a restaurant is cited for not reaching that threshold, it means food that may carry a live pathogen reached a customer's plate.
The two handwashing violations at Season God on September 10 are worth reading as a single finding rather than two separate line items. The first says employees were not washing their hands adequately. The second says that when they did wash, the technique was wrong. Together, they describe a kitchen where the most basic contamination barrier was failing at both the habit level and the execution level.
Reusing single-use items, the intermediate violation documented here, is not a minor procedural lapse. Items designed for one use, including gloves, cups, and foil containers, are not built to withstand the cleaning required to remove bacterial contamination. Reusing them transfers whatever was on the item the first time to whatever it contacts the second time.
The missing consumer advisory matters most to the people least able to absorb the risk. State code requires restaurants serving raw or undercooked items to post a notice so that customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children can make an informed choice. Without it, those customers have no way of knowing they are ordering something that carries elevated risk.
The Longer Record
Season God has 29 inspections on record and 263 total violations documented across its history. The September 10 inspection is not an outlier. It is consistent with a pattern that stretches back at least two years in the available records.
The facility was inspected on October 28, 2024, and inspectors documented 8 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations, the single highest-severity visit in the recent record. A follow-up the next day, October 29, still turned up 2 high-severity violations, meaning the most serious issues were not fully resolved in 24 hours. The same two-day pattern appeared in January 2026: 5 high-severity violations on January 6, followed by 1 high-severity violation on the January 7 follow-up.
On May 8, 2024, inspectors cited the facility for 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. The two follow-up inspections that week, on May 9 and May 10, each still recorded high-severity findings.
The facility has never been emergency-closed across its 29 inspections on record. The September 10 visit, with 6 high-severity violations including undercooking, improper chemical storage, and two distinct handwashing failures, did not change that.
Season God on Old Winter Garden Road was open for business when the inspector left.
