FLORIDA. A Subway in Groveland drew six high-severity violations in a single inspection this spring, including a citation for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and an employee who had not reported symptoms of illness before handling food.
The Subway #29413 at 7965 SR 50 in Groveland led all Florida Subway locations in severity during the April 28 through July 26 inspection window. Inspectors also cited the store for food in poor condition, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and a missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods.
Three other Subway locations matched that six-high-severity threshold during the same 90-day stretch, in Gainesville, Bronson, and Jacksonville.
What Inspectors Found
The Subway at 3424 SW Williston Road in Gainesville drew citations for food not cooked to required minimum temperatures and two separate toxic substance violations, one for improperly stored or labeled chemicals and a second for improper identification, storage, or use of toxic substances. Inspectors also cited food in poor condition, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and a missing consumer advisory.
The Subway #47295 at 830 E Hathaway in Bronson had no person in charge present or performing duties when inspectors arrived, a condition that preceded five additional high-severity findings, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food in poor condition, unsanitized food contact surfaces, improperly stored chemicals, and a missing consumer advisory.
The Subway #60865 at 1325 San Marco Blvd in Jacksonville was cited for improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, improperly identified or stored toxic substances, no allergen awareness demonstrated, and a missing consumer advisory.
The Pattern Across the State
The four top-ranked locations were not the only ones accumulating serious violations. Five locations drew five high-severity citations each during the same period.
The Subway at 1905 W 35th Street in Hialeah was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, food in poor condition, improper use of time as a public health control, and a missing consumer advisory.
The Subway 21218 at 13769 SW 152nd Street in Miami combined five high-severity violations with five intermediate violations, the largest combined total of any location in this window. Inspectors cited no employee health policy, unsanitized food contact surfaces, food not cooked to required temperatures, improperly identified toxic substances, and no allergen awareness. Intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
The Subway 3956 at 1895 N Highland Avenue in Clearwater was cited for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, improperly stored chemicals, no approved potable water supply, and a missing consumer advisory.
The Subway #26296 at 4410 W 16th Avenue in Hialeah was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, food in poor condition, inadequate shell stock identification records, and a missing consumer advisory.
The Subway at 11865 SW 26th Street in Miami drew citations for improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition, inadequate shell stock identification records, a missing consumer advisory, and improperly stored chemicals.
Statewide, Subway's 876 Florida locations carried a 93.15 percent pass rate across 14,166 inspections on record, with an average of 3.43 violations per inspection. The chain had two emergency closures in Florida this year.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation across these ten locations was the missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, which appeared at nine of the ten stores. That citation matters most for customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised, because it removes the only formal warning they receive before ordering food that carries a higher pathogen risk.
The employee illness reporting failures at Groveland, Bronson, Hialeah on W 35th Street, and Hialeah on W 16th Avenue carry a different and more direct risk. Food workers who continue working while symptomatic are the leading driver of multi-victim norovirus outbreaks in restaurant settings. A single ill employee can contaminate surfaces, utensils, and food during a single shift.
Toxic chemical violations appeared at seven of the ten locations, in Groveland, Gainesville, Bronson, Jacksonville, Miami on SW 26th Street, Clearwater, and the SW 152nd Street Miami location. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas create a contamination risk that is immediate and, in some scenarios, irreversible once a customer has consumed the food.
The food contact surface sanitation failures, cited at Groveland, Gainesville, Bronson, Jacksonville, Clearwater, and the SW 152nd Street Miami location, are a structural problem rather than a single-incident one. Unsanitized cutting boards, slicers, and prep surfaces transfer bacteria from one food item to every item prepared on the same surface afterward.
The Longer Record
The statewide inspection record for Subway in Florida spans 14,166 documented inspections across 876 locations, a volume that provides meaningful context for individual store performance. The chain's 93.15 percent pass rate means that roughly 1 in 14 inspections ends in a failure finding, and the two emergency closures this year indicate that some locations reached a threshold serious enough for immediate shutdown orders.
The Bronson location's inspection record is notable for a specific reason: the absence of a person in charge when inspectors arrived is not a standalone violation. CDC data cited in the inspection records indicates establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of managed facilities. The Bronson store's five additional high-severity findings on the same visit are consistent with that pattern.
The Miami location on SW 152nd Street carried the most intermediate violations of any store in this window, five, alongside its five high-severity citations. Improper sewage or wastewater disposal was among them, a violation that creates fecal contamination risk throughout a facility and represents a fundamentally different category of concern than a missing advisory sign.
The Clearwater location's citation for no approved potable water supply stands as the most unresolved finding in the dataset. Eight of the ten worst-performing stores had violations that could be corrected by posting a sign, adjusting storage, or sending an ill employee home. A non-potable water supply means every food preparation activity, every surface wipe-down, and every handwash at that location was performed with water that inspectors could not certify as safe to consume.
