FLORIDA. A Burger King in Palm Harbor drew 7 high-severity violations in a single inspection between May and August 2026, more than any other location in the chain's 429-restaurant Florida footprint, with inspectors citing toxic chemical storage failures, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
That location, Burger King #4010 at 32375 US Hwy 19 N, also drew a citation for failing to use time as a public health control properly, a violation that means food was allowed to sit in the bacterial growth zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without either temperature monitoring or a documented time limit. Inspectors added a citation for required procedures for specialized processes not followed and a missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Eight violations total, seven of them high-severity.
The Violations
The Palm Harbor location was not alone in accumulating serious violations. Burger King at 4704 Babcock St in Palm Bay drew five high-severity citations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, and two separate toxic substance violations. Food sourcing and chemical storage failures appearing together at the same location is a combination that inspectors treat as compounding risk.
Burger King #9162 at 1007 NW 21 Ct in Chiefland accumulated the most total violations of any location in this group, with 5 high-severity and 3 intermediate citations. Inspectors cited no person in charge present or performing duties, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate cooling equipment, single-use items being reused, and inadequate ventilation. The absence of a person in charge is significant on its own. It tends to correlate with every other problem on the list.
Burger King #7299 at 16025 S Dixie Hwy in Miami was cited for inadequate shell stock identification records, a violation that is unusual at a fast-food location and points to a traceability gap for shellfish. The same location also drew citations for parasite destruction procedures not followed and single-use items improperly reused.
Burger King 7257 at 1093 US 301 in Baldwin drew a citation for food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, alongside the now-familiar pattern of parasite destruction failure, unsanitized food contact surfaces, missing consumer advisory, and improperly stored toxic chemicals.
Burger King at 11834 E Colonial Dr in Orlando drew two separate chemical-related high-severity citations in the same inspection: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Both citations at the same location in a single visit suggest a systemic chemical management failure rather than an isolated labeling error.
Burger King #28769 at 16130 NW US Hwy 441 in Alachua drew five high-severity violations with no intermediate citations. Among them: an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate shell stock identification records, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Burger King 2755 at 1001 S Federal Hwy in Lantana was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source alongside food in poor condition, improper handwashing technique, and an intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Burger King #5313 at 3770 Ulmerton Rd in Clearwater drew four high-severity violations including required procedures for specialized processes not followed, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Burger King #12 at 1910 NE 163 St in North Miami Beach drew four high-severity violations including improper handwashing technique, toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, and a missing consumer advisory. An intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal was also documented.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation across these ten locations is food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, cited at eight of the ten. Improperly sanitized surfaces are one of the most direct mechanisms for transferring bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli from raw food or a contaminated worker's hands onto food that is about to be served. At a burger chain, where surfaces move between raw beef handling and finished sandwich assembly, that transfer pathway is short.
Toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled appeared at eight of the ten locations as well, and two locations, Palm Bay and Orlando, drew two separate chemical-related violations in a single inspection. Cleaning chemicals stored near food or in unlabeled containers can contaminate food directly. Mislabeled containers create a secondary hazard: a worker who cannot identify a chemical cannot use it safely or respond correctly if it spills.
The employee illness reporting failures documented at Palm Bay, Chiefland, Alachua, and Clearwater represent a different category of risk. Norovirus and Hepatitis A are spread primarily through infected food workers who continue handling food while symptomatic. A kitchen without a functioning illness reporting policy has no mechanism to remove a sick worker before food reaches customers.
The parasite destruction failures at Palm Harbor, Miami, and Baldwin are worth specific attention. This citation typically means a facility is serving fish, pork, or game meat without following the freezing or cooking protocols required to kill parasites like Anisakis or Trichinella. At a fast-food chain, where menus are standardized nationally, a parasite destruction failure points to a local deviation from standard cooking procedures, not a menu anomaly.
The Longer Record
Statewide, Florida Burger King locations have accumulated 7,171 inspection records. That volume of inspections across 429 locations means the state has a deep baseline for what a Burger King inspection typically looks like. The chain's average of 4.28 violations per inspection and an 87.41 percent pass rate are not catastrophic numbers for a large fast-food chain, but the locations in this report are performing well below that baseline.
The Chiefland location's combination of no person in charge, employee illness reporting failure, inadequate cooling equipment, and single-use item reuse in a single inspection describes a kitchen operating without functional oversight at multiple levels simultaneously. When the person responsible for food safety compliance is absent, the downstream violations tend to cluster.
The Palm Bay location's citation for food from an unapproved or unknown source is one of the harder violations to remediate quickly. Approved sourcing means the food has passed USDA or FDA inspection at the point of origin. Food from an unknown source has no paper trail. If a customer becomes ill and investigators need to trace the food back to its origin, that trail does not exist.
The North Miami Beach and Lantana locations both drew citations for improper sewage or wastewater disposal, an intermediate-level violation that nevertheless signals infrastructure problems beyond what a cleaning crew can address before the next shift. Sewage exposure in a food preparation environment creates fecal contamination risk across the entire facility.
None of the ten locations in this report triggered an emergency closure. The chain recorded zero emergency closures statewide in the current inspection year. What the record shows instead is a pattern of high-severity violations that inspectors documented, flagged, and left open for correction, at ten locations spread from North Miami Beach to Alachua, in a 90-day window.
