FLORIDA. Inspectors visiting Chipotle Mexican Grill #4627 at 13354 Hartzog Road in Winter Garden this spring found six high-severity violations in a single inspection cycle, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff, and a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish.
That location led all 296 Florida Chipotle locations in high-severity violations over the 90-day period ending June 9, 2026.
What Inspectors Found
The Winter Garden location's violations covered nearly every major food safety category in a single visit. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food from an unapproved or unknown source, a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate shell stock identification, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff.
The Windermere location at 9100 Conroy-Windermere Road was cited for five high-severity violations, including food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic substances improperly stored or used, parasite destruction failures, and food contact surfaces not properly sanitized. Inspectors also noted inadequate toilet facilities, an intermediate violation that compounds handwashing concerns.
Chipotle #813 at 12827 N Dale Mabry Highway in Carrollwood drew four high-severity violations, among them food not cooked to required minimum temperature and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal and equipment in poor repair, both intermediate violations.
Chipotle #457 at 11680 University Boulevard in Orlando was cited for a person in charge not present or not performing duties, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, parasite destruction failures, and food contact surfaces not properly sanitized. That location also had improper sewage disposal noted as an intermediate violation.
The West Melbourne location at 125 Palm Bay Road was flagged for no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing by food employees, parasite destruction failures, and toxic substances improperly stored. Inspectors noted single-use items being improperly reused as well.
The Jupiter location at 6274 W Indiantown Road drew four high-severity violations: an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate shell stock records, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Chipotle #762 at 2662 Gulf to Bay Boulevard in Clearwater had no person in charge present, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and inadequate handwashing by food employees, all three high-severity. No intermediate violations were recorded there.
Chipotle #881 at 2380 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West Palm Beach was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms and inadequate shell stock identification records.
Chipotle #3510 at 891 S Miami Avenue in Miami drew two high-severity violations: improper hand and arm washing technique and parasite destruction procedures not followed.
Chipotle 5519 at 3001 S US Highway 27 in Clermont had one high-severity violation for parasite destruction procedures not followed, along with an intermediate citation for inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The most frequently cited high-severity violation across these ten locations was failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, which appeared at seven of them. For fish, state and federal food codes require specific freezing protocols to kill parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm before the fish is served. When those protocols are not documented or followed, customers consuming fish in any preparation, including in bowls or burritos, can ingest living parasites. Chipotle's menu includes proteins that trigger this requirement, making the breadth of this violation across the chain notable.
Employee illness reporting failures appeared at six locations, including Winter Garden, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Clearwater, Jupiter, and West Melbourne. This is not a paperwork violation. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through food prepared by workers who are sick but not removed from service. A single infected employee can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
The shell stock identification failures at Winter Garden, West Palm Beach, Carrollwood, and Jupiter point to a different kind of risk. Shellfish traceability records exist so that if customers become ill, investigators can trace the product back to its harvest location and pull it from the supply chain. Without those records, an outbreak involving contaminated shellfish becomes significantly harder to contain. The Winter Garden location compounded this with food from an unapproved source, meaning some ingredient arrived through a channel outside the USDA and FDA inspection system entirely.
The allergen awareness violations at Winter Garden and Windermere are among the most acute risks in the data. Food allergies send 30,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year and kill hundreds. When staff cannot demonstrate awareness of allergens in the foods they are preparing and serving, customers with allergies have no reliable protection, regardless of what they ask at the counter.
The Longer Record
Across all 296 Florida locations, Chipotle has accumulated 5,397 inspections on record. That volume reflects years of routine state oversight, and the chain's 94.59 percent pass rate and average of 2.51 violations per inspection place it within a range that most large chains occupy. But averages obscure what happens at individual locations, and the ten facilities flagged in this 90-day window show a pattern that runs well beyond a single bad inspection.
The Carrollwood location on Dale Mabry is among the more concerning in terms of combined severity. Four high-severity violations alongside sewage disposal problems and equipment in poor repair suggest maintenance and management failures that compound each other. Equipment in poor repair, specifically cracked or corroded surfaces, creates harborage points for bacteria that routine cleaning cannot reach.
The Orlando University Boulevard location's citation for no person in charge present is worth holding against the rest of its record. CDC data indicates that facilities without active managerial control on site accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of supervised facilities. That location also had sewage disposal and ventilation violations in the same inspection, a combination that points to deferred maintenance across multiple systems.
The West Melbourne location's combination of no employee health policy and inadequate handwashing by food employees is the most direct disease transmission pathway in the dataset. A health policy tells workers when to stay home. Handwashing is the primary physical barrier against transmission once they arrive. Both failed in the same inspection.
The Statewide Picture
No Florida Chipotle location was emergency-closed during this period. The chain's overall pass rate of 94.59 percent means roughly 1 in 18 inspections results in a failure, which across 296 locations and thousands of annual inspections adds up to a recurring pool of non-compliant visits. The ten locations flagged here represent the concentrated end of that distribution.
The Winter Garden location at 13354 Hartzog Road carried six high-severity violations without a single intermediate citation, meaning every deficiency inspectors documented was in the most serious category the state tracks. Among those six was food arriving from an unapproved source, a violation with no routine explanation and no minor version.
