LYNN HAVEN, FL. State inspectors ordered Red Star Chinese One Inc on Ohio Avenue closed on August 26 after documenting rodent activity inside the restaurant, triggering an emergency shutdown that gave the business until the following morning to vacate.
The closure was not the first. Records show this is the second time the Bay County restaurant has been emergency-closed by the state.
What Inspectors Found
Red Star Chinese One Inc: Recent Inspection Severity
The August 26 inspection produced four high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. Rodent activity was the finding that crossed the threshold for an emergency order, compelling inspectors to shut the restaurant down on the spot and require it to vacate by August 27.
A follow-up inspection the next morning found zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations. The restaurant was cleared to reopen at 10:23 a.m. on August 27.
What This Violation Means
Rodent activity inside a food service operation is among the most serious findings an inspector can document. Rodents move through a kitchen without restriction, contaminating food surfaces, utensils, and stored ingredients with droppings, urine, and the pathogens they carry, including salmonella and leptospira bacteria.
Unlike a temperature violation that affects a specific item at a specific moment, rodent activity is a facility-wide contamination risk. Any surface a rodent has contacted, any food container it has accessed, and any prep area it has passed through is potentially compromised. Customers eating there have no way of knowing which ingredients or surfaces were involved.
That is why the state treats active rodent activity as grounds for immediate closure rather than a corrective-action citation. The risk is not theoretical and it is not limited to one dish or one station. It extends to everything the kitchen touched that day.
The Pattern Behind the Closure
The August closure did not arrive without warning in the inspection record. State records show 25 inspections at this address and 144 total violations documented over the life of the facility.
High-severity violations have appeared in nearly every recent inspection. The December 2024 visit produced five high-severity violations and three intermediate ones, the heaviest single inspection in the recent record. Three high-severity violations were documented in May 2024. Two more appeared in December 2025.
That is a facility that has been producing high-severity findings at nearly every inspection for at least two years.
The Longer Record
The August 26 closure is the second emergency shutdown on record for Red Star Chinese One Inc. A facility that has now been emergency-closed twice, across 25 inspections and 144 documented violations, presents a pattern that goes beyond an isolated bad day.
The prior closure is not a minor footnote. Two emergency closures at the same permanent food service location means the state has twice determined that conditions inside the restaurant posed an immediate threat to public health serious enough to lock the doors.
What the record does not show is any extended period of clean inspections that would suggest the underlying problems were resolved. High-severity violations have appeared consistently from 2023 through 2026, with the single worst inspection occurring just eight months before this closure.
The restaurant cleared its follow-up inspection on August 27 and was permitted to reopen. Whether the rodent activity that triggered the closure reflects a recurring condition or a problem fully addressed in a single overnight response is a question the next routine inspection will answer.
