SEBRING, FL. Back in February 2026, state inspectors ordered Cang Tong at 110 Sebring Square shut down after finding both roach and rodent activity inside the restaurant, the seventh time in five months that the Highlands County eatery had been forced to close its doors to protect the public.
The February 19 closure came with an order to vacate by February 20. The restaurant did reopen, records show, at 9:31 a.m. the following day.
What Inspectors Found
Cang Tong Emergency Closures: Oct. 2025 to June 2026
The February 19 closure was triggered by documented roach and rodent activity inside the restaurant. That combination, live pests and evidence of rodents in a food-service environment, is among the conditions Florida regulators treat as an immediate threat to public health, requiring a closure order rather than a scheduled correction.
Inspectors also cited three high-severity violations and two intermediate violations during the period surrounding that closure. Those included food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, toxic chemicals that were improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances that were improperly identified, stored, or used. On the intermediate level, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal and the reuse of single-use items.
The chemical storage violations were cited alongside the pest findings. That is a notable combination: an environment with active roach and rodent activity, surfaces that have not been properly sanitized, and chemicals that are not correctly labeled or separated from food areas.
What These Violations Mean
Roaches and rodents inside a food-service facility are not simply a cleanliness concern. Both carry pathogens, including salmonella and E. coli, and deposit them on food surfaces, equipment, and packaging as they move through a kitchen. A customer eating food that has been touched by a contaminated surface, or prepared near active rodent activity, has no way of knowing that exposure occurred.
The food contact surface violation compounds that risk directly. Cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that are not properly cleaned and sanitized between uses are a primary route for bacterial transfer from one food item to another, or from a contaminated surface to a finished dish. When that violation appears alongside documented pest activity, the two problems reinforce each other.
The chemical violations carry a different but equally serious risk. Toxic substances stored near food, or chemicals that are mislabeled or improperly used, can cause acute poisoning. A customer would have no warning. The intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal adds a third contamination pathway: raw sewage contains fecal bacteria, and improper disposal creates the conditions for that contamination to spread through a facility.
Reusing single-use items, the fifth violation cited, is a lower-profile finding but still meaningful. Gloves, cups, and utensils designed for a single use accumulate contamination when reused, defeating the purpose of using them in the first place.
The Longer Record
The February 2026 closure was not the first time Cang Tong had been shut down for pest activity, and it was not the last. State records show the restaurant has accumulated 640 violations across 58 inspections on record, and has been emergency-closed six times prior to the February 19 incident, with the February closure itself representing the seventh shutdown.
The pattern began, in the records available, with a rodent-activity closure on October 20, 2025. The restaurant reopened the following day. A second closure followed on February 19, 2026, the one at the center of this report. A week later, on February 26, inspectors ordered the restaurant closed again, this time for rodent activity. It reopened February 27.
The closures then accelerated. On March 25, inspectors found roach and rodent activity and ordered another shutdown. That closure lasted two days before the restaurant was allowed to reopen on March 27. On April 6, a roach-activity closure was ordered, and records do not confirm a reopen date. On April 30, inspectors documented rodent, roach, and fly activity simultaneously. That closure also has no confirmed reopen date on record.
The inspection record after the February 19 closure shows persistent high-severity findings. On April 30, the same day as the fifth closure in this sequence, inspectors cited six high-severity and three intermediate violations. On May 1, three high-severity and two intermediate violations were documented. Inspections continued through May and into June, with high-severity violations present at every visit.
By June 15, 2026, a full four months after the February closure, inspectors were still citing six high-severity and four intermediate violations at the same location. A follow-up the next day, June 16, found three high-severity and two intermediate violations still on record.
Across 58 inspections and 640 total violations, the category that has driven the most severe regulatory action at this location has remained consistent: pest activity, in the form of roaches, rodents, and, in at least one instance, flies. Whether the restaurant resolved the April 30 closure and returned to service remains unconfirmed in state records.