TAMPA, FL. State inspectors ordered Grain and Berry at 2784 E Fowler Ave shut down on August 25 after documenting live roach and fly activity inside the restaurant, the same combination that forced the shop to close for the first time just 13 months earlier.
The closure marked the second emergency shutdown at the East Fowler Avenue location since July 2025. Inspectors gave the restaurant until August 27 to correct the violations. It reopened that morning at 9:36 a.m.
What Inspectors Found
Grain and Berry: Emergency Closure History
The August 25 inspection that triggered the closure also turned up two high-severity violations and four intermediate violations unrelated to the pest activity. Among them: food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items.
Inspectors returned on August 26 and again on August 27. Both follow-up visits still found two high-severity violations each, alongside intermediate violations for inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, and inadequate ventilation and lighting. The restaurant cleared state standards at the August 27 inspection and was allowed to reopen.
A Pattern, Not an Incident
The August closure was not a first offense or an isolated finding. It was the third emergency closure event in the facility's recorded history, and the second time in 13 months that inspectors documented live pest activity severe enough to order the restaurant vacated.
The first closure came on July 22, 2025, for the same documented reason: roach and fly activity. The restaurant passed a follow-up inspection the next day and reopened. Two months later, on September 24, 2025, inspectors returned and found six high-severity violations and four intermediate violations in a single visit, the highest single-inspection count in the facility's recent record.
That September visit did not result in a closure. But it produced more high-severity citations than either of the two inspections that did.
The 2024 record tells a similar story. Inspectors visited on August 26, 2024 and documented four high-severity and four intermediate violations. A follow-up two days later still showed three high-severity violations. The facility has now accumulated 107 total violations across 20 inspections on record.
What These Violations Mean
Live roach and fly activity inside a food preparation area is among the most direct triggers for emergency closure under Florida food safety law. Roaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and legs, depositing those pathogens on food contact surfaces, prep areas, and stored ingredients as they move through a kitchen. A single roach sighting in a high-risk zone is a critical violation. An infestation severe enough to prompt an emergency order means inspectors documented activity beyond an isolated incident.
The food temperature violation cited during the August 25 inspection adds a separate layer of risk. Undercooking is one of the most documented causes of foodborne illness in the United States. Salmonella in poultry, for example, survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food is not brought to the required minimum temperature, pathogens that should be killed during cooking remain viable and can reach a customer's plate.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items compounds that risk. Without a posted advisory, customers who are elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised, or otherwise vulnerable have no way to make an informed choice about what they are ordering. That advisory requirement exists precisely because some menu items carry inherent risk that cannot be fully eliminated in preparation.
The intermediate violation for inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment is a temperature problem of a different kind. Equipment that cannot maintain required cold temperatures allows food to drift into the danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, where bacterial growth accelerates. Unlike a single temperature reading that can be corrected by moving food, an equipment deficiency means the problem recurs every time the unit is used.
The Longer Record
Twenty inspections and 107 total violations place Grain and Berry well outside the range of a facility with occasional compliance lapses. The two emergency closures, both for pest activity, both within a 13-month window, suggest the underlying conditions that attracted pests in July 2025 were not fully resolved before inspectors found them again in August 2026.
The inspection sequence around each closure follows a consistent pattern. A closure is ordered, a follow-up inspection clears the facility for reopening, and the restaurant returns to operation. But the high-severity violation counts in the inspections between closures, including six in a single visit in September 2025, indicate that serious food safety problems persisted at the location across the full period between shutdowns.
The August 27 follow-up inspection still found two high-severity violations even after the restaurant was cleared to reopen. What those two violations were, the inspection record does not specify beyond the categories documented on August 25.
