FLORIDA. State inspectors cited a Clermont Panera Bread for seven high-severity violations in a single visit this summer, including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, and an employee who had not reported symptoms of illness before working a shift.
The Panera Bread #3354 at 2260 E Hwy 50 in Clermont led all Florida Panera locations in the 90-day window between July 5 and October 2, 2026, with seven high-severity violations and one intermediate citation. Inspectors also documented that parasite destruction procedures had not been followed, that food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and that no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items. Two separate chemical violations appeared in the same inspection report: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
That Clermont visit was not an outlier. Across 10 of Panera Bread's 194 Florida locations, inspectors recorded a combined 57 high-severity violations and 11 intermediate violations during the same three-month stretch.
The Violations
The Panera Bread Store 2789 at 245 Palm Bay Rd in Melbourne matched Clermont's seven high-severity count. Inspectors found no person in charge present or performing duties, no written employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, and two separate chemical storage violations. Melbourne produced zero intermediate violations, meaning every citation that visit was at the highest severity level.
The Panera Bread #776 at 4403 Roosevelt Blvd in Jacksonville drew six high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no person in charge. Inspectors also cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal and the reuse of single-use items at that location.
Three Jacksonville locations appeared in the same 90-day window. The Panera Bread #1575 at 1440 Hendricks Avenue generated six high-severity violations, including improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, missing consumer advisory, two chemical violations, and single-use items being reused. The Panera Bread #1047 at 13271 City Station Dr drew five high-severity violations, including an inspector notation that employees were using improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning pathogens can remain on hands even after a wash.
The Panera Bread Store 2782 at 275 E Eau Gallie Blvd in Indian Harbour Beach produced the most intermediate violations of any location in the period, three, on top of five high-severity citations. Among those high-severity findings: no allergen awareness demonstrated, and time as a public health control not properly used, a designation that means food was being held in the bacterial growth temperature range without proper written tracking.
In Miami, inspectors cited two locations within the same inspection window. The Panera Bread #6019 at 9105 SW 162 Ave drew five high-severity violations including food from an unapproved or unknown source and improper hand washing technique. The Panera Bread #1058 at 13672 N Kendall Dr was cited for improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, time as a public health control not properly used, and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
The single most common high-severity violation across these ten locations was an employee not reporting symptoms of illness. Nine of the ten locations received that citation. Sick food workers are the primary driver of multi-victim norovirus outbreaks, which cause roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year. Norovirus spreads through direct food contact and survives on surfaces for days. A single ill employee handling food before a shift can expose every customer served during that period.
Four locations, Melbourne, Jacksonville Roosevelt, Jacksonville Hendricks, and Davenport, were cited for no person in charge present or performing duties. The CDC has documented that establishments without active managerial oversight accumulate critical violations at roughly three times the rate of managed kitchens. At the Melbourne location, the absence of a manager coincided with no written employee health policy and an employee not reporting illness, a compounding set of failures that each reinforce the others.
The food from unapproved or unknown source violation at the Jacksonville Roosevelt and Miami SW 162 Ave locations carries a specific traceability risk. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection systems cannot be traced if customers become ill, which makes outbreak investigations significantly harder and leaves regulators without a recall mechanism.
At the Indian Harbour Beach location, no allergen awareness demonstrated is among the more acutely dangerous findings in this dataset. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send roughly 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. At a chain where customers frequently order online or through a kiosk and expect standardized ingredient handling, a failure to demonstrate allergen awareness at the counter level creates direct risk for customers with serious allergies to nuts, dairy, or gluten.
The Longer Record
Statewide, Panera Bread has accumulated 4,226 inspections on record across its 194 Florida locations. That volume of inspections means the chain's 91.75 percent pass rate and 4.06 average violations per inspection are based on a large and reliable dataset, not a handful of visits. One Florida location has been emergency-closed this year.
The Jacksonville cluster is notable. Three separate Jacksonville locations appeared among the ten worst performers in a single 90-day window, and two of them, the Roosevelt Boulevard and Hendricks Avenue locations, each generated six high-severity violations. Inspectors at both locations cited missing management oversight and the same employee illness reporting failure, suggesting the problem is not isolated to one poorly managed shift.
The Panera Bread Cafe 6259 at 1271 Posner Blvd in Davenport and the Panera Bread 1673 at 463861 SR 200 in Yulee represent opposite ends of the severity spectrum in this data. Yulee's single high-severity violation, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, is the minimum threshold for appearing in this analysis. Davenport's five high-severity violations included no person in charge, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and improperly stored toxic substances, alongside intermediate citations for inadequate ventilation and single-use items being reused.
The Clermont location's parasite destruction citation stands as the most unusual finding in the dataset. That violation means inspectors determined that proper freezing or cooking protocols for fish or pork were not being followed, procedures designed to kill organisms including Anisakis and Trichinella that survive in undercooked protein. Combined with a simultaneous citation for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, the Clermont location received two separate violations in the same inspection that both address the same underlying failure: food not being made safe by heat.
