FLORIDA. State inspectors visiting Panera Bread #3354 on East Highway 50 in Clermont found seven high-severity violations in a single inspection this summer, a list that included food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and toxic chemicals stored improperly near food. An intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal rounded out the citation.
That combination, undercooking, parasite risk, chemical hazards, and sewage, at a fast-casual chain known for soups and sandwiches, was the worst single-inspection record among Florida Panera locations in the 90-day window running from June 26 through September 23, 2026.
It was not an isolated case.
The Violations Across Florida
Panera Bread Store 2789 at 245 Palm Bay Road in Melbourne matched Clermont's seven high-severity count. Inspectors there cited the location for no employee health policy, no person in charge present or performing duties, employees not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly. Two of the seven violations pointed to the same chemical hazard category.
Panera Bread Bakery Cafe #4264 at 6537 Old Brick Road in Windermere drew six high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. An intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal accompanied those findings.
Jacksonville produced two of the ten worst locations. Panera Bread #1575 at 1440 Hendricks Avenue was cited for six high-severity violations, including no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not sanitized, and toxic substance violations. An intermediate citation noted single-use items being improperly reused.
Panera Bread #776 at 4403 Roosevelt Boulevard, also in Jacksonville, added six high-severity violations of its own: no person in charge, food from an unapproved source, parasite destruction failures, food not cooked to minimum temperature, toxic chemical storage problems, and employees not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors also cited the location for improper sewage disposal and the reuse of single-use items.
Panera Bread #6228 at 6589 South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota was cited for food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, alongside food not cooked to minimum temperature, toxic chemical violations, and no person in charge. Inspectors also noted multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate toilet facilities.
Panera Bread #6019 at 9105 SW 162nd Avenue in Miami drew five high-severity violations including improper hand and arm washing technique, food from an unapproved source, food contact surfaces not sanitized, no consumer advisory, and toxic substance misuse. Improper sewage disposal was cited as an intermediate violation.
Panera Bread Cafe 6259 at 1271 Posner Boulevard in Davenport was cited for no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not sanitized, no consumer advisory, and toxic substance violations. Inspectors also noted single-use items being reused and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
Panera Bread #1058 at 13672 North Kendall Drive in Miami rounded out the list with five high-severity violations: employees not reporting illness symptoms, food contact surfaces not sanitized, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory, and toxic substance misuse.
Statewide, the chain's 194 Florida locations averaged 4.06 violations per inspection across 4,215 inspections on record. The overall pass rate was 91.75 percent. One Florida Panera location was emergency-closed this year.
What These Violations Mean
The single most common high-severity violation across the ten worst-performing locations this quarter was employees not reporting symptoms of illness, cited at seven of the ten facilities, including Clermont, Melbourne, Windermere, Jacksonville's Hendricks Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard locations, Davenport, and the North Kendall Drive Miami location. Health regulators classify this as an outbreak enabler. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads most efficiently when a sick food worker handles ready-to-eat food without triggering any reporting or exclusion protocol. A single infected employee can expose dozens of customers before any illness is detected.
Parasite destruction failures, cited at Clermont, Windermere, and the Roosevelt Boulevard Jacksonville location, represent a different category of risk. Fish and certain meats must be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites including Anisakis, found in raw and undercooked fish, and Trichinella, found in pork. When those protocols are skipped or improperly documented, parasites can survive to the plate.
Toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled appeared at eight of the ten locations. The hazard is direct: cleaning chemicals stored near or above food preparation surfaces can contaminate food through spills, aerosol drift, or mislabeling that causes a chemical to be mistaken for a food-safe product. Chemical poisoning from this type of cross-contamination produces symptoms that can be mistaken for foodborne illness.
The no consumer advisory violation, cited at Clermont, Melbourne, Jacksonville's Hendricks Avenue location, Windermere, Miami's Southwest 162nd Avenue location, Davenport, and North Kendall Drive Miami, is a disclosure failure. When a menu includes raw or undercooked items, state law requires a written advisory so that high-risk customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems, can make an informed choice. Without it, those customers have no way of knowing a dish carries elevated risk.
The Longer Record
The statewide chain record of 4,215 inspections across 194 locations means the average Florida Panera has been inspected more than 21 times. That depth of history makes the patterns visible. The violations documented this quarter at locations like Clermont, Melbourne, and the two Jacksonville stores are not the product of first-time inspections catching a new operation unprepared. These are established facilities with documented inspection histories behind them.
The Yulee location, Panera Bread 1673 at SR 200, drew only one high-severity violation this quarter, but it was the illness-reporting failure, the same violation that appeared at more locations than any other in this review. A single high-severity citation at a facility with a long inspection record is not automatically reassuring when the violation in question is the one regulators identify as the primary driver of multi-victim outbreaks.
The two Miami locations, Southwest 162nd Avenue and North Kendall Drive, each accumulated five high-severity violations independently, suggesting the problem is not confined to any one region or management structure within the chain. Jacksonville produced two of the ten worst performers in the same 90-day window, with both locations sharing the no-person-in-charge citation alongside the illness-reporting failure.
What the record does not show is any location on this list with a clean stretch before this quarter. The statewide pass rate of 91.75 percent means roughly one in twelve inspections of a Florida Panera results in a failure. Nine locations failing at the high-severity level in a single 90-day period, across markets from Miami to Yulee, points to a systemwide compliance gap that individual store management alone cannot explain.
The Clermont location's combination of undercooking violations and parasite destruction failures in the same inspection remains the most specific unresolved finding in this quarter's data.
