FLORIDA. An employee at the Chipotle Mexican Grill at 9466 W Linebaugh Ave in Tampa was found not reporting symptoms of illness during an inspection this quarter, one of four high-severity violations inspectors cited at that location between January 25 and April 24, 2026.
That single finding places the Tampa location at the top of Florida's worst-performing Chipotle restaurants over the past 90 days, a stretch in which inspectors documented serious violations at 10 locations across the state.
The Violations
The Tampa location's four high-severity citations went beyond the illness-reporting failure. Inspectors also found food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, inadequate shell stock identification records, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
The Chipotle at 9100 Conroy-Windermere Rd in Windermere accumulated the highest raw violation count of any location reviewed, with five high-severity citations and one intermediate. Inspectors found that parasite destruction procedures were not followed, food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned, food was not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic substances were improperly identified or stored, and no allergen awareness was demonstrated.
The Windermere location also had inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities, an intermediate violation that inspectors flagged alongside the five high-severity findings.
At the Chipotle at 8790 Boynton Beach Rd in Boynton Beach, inspectors found that the person in charge was not present or not performing duties, an employee was not reporting illness symptoms, shell stock identification records were inadequate, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods was posted. Multi-use utensils were also not properly cleaned.
The Chipotle at 2380 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd in West Palm Beach drew four high-severity violations: improper hand and arm washing technique, inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Inspectors also cited improperly cleaned multi-use utensils.
In Lehigh Acres, the Chipotle at 2722 4th St W was cited for improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or mislabeled, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
The Chipotle at 7800 Dr Phillips Blvd in Orlando had two separate chemical-storage violations: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Inspectors also found that parasite destruction procedures were not followed and no consumer advisory was posted. Two intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal and improperly cleaned multi-use utensils.
At the Chipotle at 16118 Preserve Marketplace Blvd in Odessa, the person in charge was not present or not performing duties, an employee was not reporting illness symptoms, shell stock records were inadequate, and no consumer advisory was posted. Inspectors flagged inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment as an intermediate violation, alongside inadequate ventilation and lighting.
The Chipotle at 12827 N Dale Mabry Hwy in Carrollwood was cited for inadequate shell stock records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory. Inspectors also noted improper sewage or wastewater disposal and equipment in poor repair.
At Chipotle at 50 Riverside Ave in Jacksonville, inspectors found inadequate shell stock records, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. Three intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
The Chipotle at 10450 US 441 in Leesburg was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The most frequently cited high-severity violation across these ten locations was the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, appearing at seven of them, including Tampa, Boynton Beach, Odessa, Carrollwood, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Leesburg. That posting requirement exists specifically to warn customers who face elevated risk from undercooked food: pregnant women, the elderly, young children, and people with compromised immune systems. Without it, those customers have no way of knowing a dish carries added risk.
The illness-reporting failures at Tampa, Boynton Beach, Odessa, and Leesburg are a separate and more acute concern. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads directly from an infected food handler to food or surfaces. An employee who works through symptoms, even mild ones, can contaminate dozens of meals before anyone realizes something is wrong.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at Windermere, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, carry their own specific danger. Parasites including Anisakis in fish and Trichinella in pork are killed by proper cooking temperatures or by approved freezing protocols. When neither is confirmed, the parasite can survive into the finished dish.
The two chemical-storage violations at the Orlando location are not a paperwork problem. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food create a direct path to acute poisoning through accidental contamination or mislabeling. Two separate citations for the same category of failure at one location is notable.
The Longer Record
Chipotle's Florida footprint is large enough that the chain's statewide inspection record carries statistical weight. Across 296 locations and 5,353 inspections on record, the chain's average of 2.49 violations per inspection and a 94.59 percent pass rate sit within the range of a chain that generally moves product through inspection. No emergency closures were recorded in Florida this year.
That aggregate picture, however, does not reach inside the individual locations that drove this quarter's findings. The Carrollwood location on N Dale Mabry Hwy and the Tampa location on W Linebaugh Ave both operate in the same metro area and both accumulated four high-severity violations this quarter. Two of those four violations at each location overlap: inadequate shell stock identification and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
The shell stock traceability failure is worth pausing on. It appeared at seven of the ten locations reviewed: Tampa, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Odessa, Carrollwood, Jacksonville, and the Windermere location. Shell stock records exist so that if someone gets sick from a raw oyster or clam, investigators can trace the batch back to its harvest area and pull it from circulation. Without those records, that traceability chain breaks entirely.
The Windermere location, with five high-severity violations, had the most serious single-inspection profile of any location in this review. Whether that represents a pattern or an isolated inspection is a question the prior inspection record for that address would answer. What the current record shows is that food was not cooked to minimum temperature, parasite destruction was not confirmed, allergen awareness was not demonstrated, and toxic substances were improperly handled, all in the same inspection.
The Pattern
Across all ten locations, the violations cluster in ways that suggest systemic gaps rather than isolated incidents. Shell stock recordkeeping failed at seven locations. Consumer advisories were missing at seven. Allergen awareness was absent at three. Illness-reporting failures appeared at four.
None of these violations require equipment upgrades or capital investment to fix. They require training, supervision, and a person in charge who is present and engaged. At Boynton Beach and Odessa, inspectors specifically found that the person in charge was not present or not performing duties, a violation that CDC data links to three times as many critical violations in a given inspection.
The Leesburg location's citation for time as a public health control not properly used points to a specific operational failure. When temperature control is not feasible, time can be used as an alternative, but only when the food is tracked, labeled, and discarded at the required interval. When that system is not followed, food sits in the temperature danger zone with no control in place at all.
Seven of the ten locations reviewed here had no emergency closure this quarter. The chain's statewide closure count for the year remains zero. But seven of those same locations were missing the consumer advisory that tells the most vulnerable customers what they are ordering.