FLORIDA. A KFC in Groveland left inspectors with a list of ten violations in the most recent inspection period, including six rated high-severity, among them food in poor condition or adulterated, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The KFC at 14405 Monte Vista Road in Groveland tied with a Jacksonville location for the worst high-severity count among the chain's Florida restaurants between June 10 and September 7, 2026. Inspectors also cited the Groveland store for inadequate shell stock identification, failure to use time as a public health control properly, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Two intermediate violations, improper sewage disposal and improper sanitizing procedures, rounded out the report.
Across the state, the chain's record over this period tells a consistent story of the same violations appearing in city after city.
The Violations Across Florida
The KFC at 10770 Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville matched Groveland's six high-severity violations. Inspectors there cited an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, inadequate shell stock identification, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Improper sewage disposal and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned were also on the report.
The illness reporting citation at the Beach Boulevard location is one of the more acute findings in the entire dataset. A food worker who continues handling food while sick is a direct transmission route for norovirus and similar pathogens.
The KFC at 1146 Dunn Avenue in Jacksonville drew five high-severity violations, including no written employee health policy, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and a second toxic-substance citation covering improper identification and use. Inspectors also noted inadequate ventilation and lighting, equipment in poor repair, and improper use of wiping cloths.
Two separate chemical-handling violations at the Dunn Avenue location, one for improper storage and labeling and one for improper identification and use, suggest a broader breakdown in how hazardous materials are managed at that site.
The KFC at 8201 Florida Avenue in Tampa produced five high-severity violations, including improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or adulterated, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and a citation for required procedures for specialized processes not followed. Multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and equipment in poor repair were also documented.
Three Jacksonville-area locations and Tampa's Florida Avenue store each drew citations for toxic chemical storage in the same inspection window. That pattern does not appear to be a coincidence of timing.
The KFC at 7276 103rd Street in Jacksonville was cited for improper handwashing, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and toxic chemicals improperly stored, along with improper sewage disposal and inadequate ventilation.
The KFC at 3810 SW College Road in Ocala drew four high-severity violations covering inadequate shell stock identification, parasite destruction failures, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemical storage, plus three intermediate violations including improper sewage disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate ventilation.
The KFC at 33420 US Highway 19 North in Palm Harbor was cited for parasite destruction failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemical storage. The KFC/Taco Bell at 1809 US Highway 1 in Sebastian drew four high-severity violations as well, including two separate toxic-substance citations alongside food contact surface failures and no consumer advisory. The KFC at 956 Patricia Avenue in Dunedin rounded out the worst-performing locations with shell stock identification failures, parasite destruction violations, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory.
What These Violations Mean
Toxic chemical storage violations appeared at nine of the ten worst-performing KFC locations in this period. When cleaning agents, sanitizers, or pest control products are stored near or above food and food contact surfaces, the risk is direct contamination of what customers eat. Mislabeled containers compound the problem because staff cannot identify what they are handling if a spill occurs.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at locations in Jacksonville, Ocala, Palm Harbor, and Dunedin, mean that proper freezing or cooking protocols required to kill organisms like Anisakis in fish or Trichinella in pork were not being followed. At a fried chicken chain, that citation points to gaps in either sourcing documentation or cooking process controls.
The consumer advisory violation appeared at eight of the ten locations. That citation means customers were not informed that certain menu items, if served raw or undercooked, carry elevated risk for pregnant women, the elderly, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Without that notice, those customers have no way to make an informed choice.
Food contact surface violations, documented at six locations including Groveland, both Jacksonville Beach Boulevard and 103rd Street stores, Tampa, Palm Harbor, and Dunedin, mean that the surfaces where food is prepared, portioned, or plated were not being adequately cleaned and sanitized between uses. Bacteria can transfer directly from those surfaces to food within minutes.
The Longer Record
Florida's KFC network has accumulated 5,563 inspections on record across 238 locations, an average that suggests most stores have been inspected dozens of times. The chain's overall pass rate sits at 89.92 percent, meaning roughly one in ten inspections statewide results in a failure. Two emergency closures have been recorded this year.
The statewide average of 4.71 violations per inspection provides a baseline. Groveland's ten violations and the Beach Boulevard Jacksonville location's nine violations in a single inspection are roughly double that average, placing them in a different category than a store generating two or three minor citations.
Jacksonville stands out as a concentration point. Three separate KFC locations in the city, Beach Boulevard, Dunn Avenue, and 103rd Street, each appeared among the ten worst performers in the same 90-day window. All three drew high-severity citations. The Dunn Avenue location added a no-employee-health-policy violation on top of dual toxic-substance citations, a combination that reflects both a personnel management gap and a physical safety failure at the same store.
The Ocala location on SW College Road drew seven total violations, including sewage disposal and ventilation problems alongside the high-severity food safety failures. That combination of infrastructure-level intermediate violations alongside high-severity food handling failures suggests maintenance and compliance issues are developing in tandem at that site.
The Pattern Across the Chain
Nine of the ten worst-performing KFC locations in Florida drew citations for toxic chemical storage failures in the same 90-day period. That kind of consistency across unrelated stores in different cities points toward a systemic gap in how chemical handling is trained or enforced at the chain level, not a single manager's oversight.
The no-consumer-advisory citation at eight locations is similarly widespread. That violation requires a specific posting or menu notation, something that would be standardized across a national chain's Florida franchise network if corporate compliance required it.
The KFC at 11975 SW 152nd Street in Miami drew only two violations, one high-severity for toxic substance handling and one intermediate for ventilation, the lightest record among the locations flagged in this period. Even so, the toxic-substance citation places it in the same chemical-handling category as the chain's worst performers this summer.
Two KFC locations in Florida have been emergency-closed this year. The inspection record does not yet show which stores those were.
