TAMPA, FL. Back in December 2025, state inspectors walked into 2K Express No 11, a convenience store in Tampa, and found hemp extract drinks on the shelf that had already passed their expiration dates, alongside others that lacked expiration date labeling entirely, and the store itself was operating without a valid 2025 food permit.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services conducted the inspection on December 19, 2025, flagging 11 violations in total. Inspectors issued multiple stop-sale orders on the hemp extract products before the visit was over.
What Inspectors Found
The hemp extract drinks drew the most enforcement action. Inspectors found products in the retail area that were not labeled with an expiration date, a violation of Florida's misbranding statutes. Others were already past their expiration date when inspectors arrived. According to the inspection record, those expired products were voluntarily discarded during the visit.
A separate violation flagged that the hemp extract drinks contained color additives, which is prohibited under state rules governing hemp extract products intended for human consumption.
The store also had no posted sign notifying customers that hemp extract products cannot be sold to anyone under 21 and that proof of age is required. That sign was posted during the inspection.
The permit violation stood on its own. The store was operating without a valid 2025 food permit on the day of the inspection.
The back area and toilet room had no soap and no paper towels at the handwashing sinks. Inspectors noted both were provided before they left. There was also no handwashing sign posted at the sink in the back area.
A probe thermometer was not available in the retail area, though inspectors noted no temperature violation was observed. No sanitizer test kit was present in the back area. The store had no written procedures for employees to follow in the event of a vomiting or diarrheal incident.
Coffee stirrers on the customer self-service counter were not stored in a protected manner.
The Stop-Sale Orders
Inspectors issued stop-sale orders on multiple hemp extract drink products under two separate legal grounds. Several products were flagged under Florida Statute 581.217(7)(e) for violations related to distribution, retail sale, and advertising or marketing of hemp extract intended for human consumption. Others were cited under Florida Statutes 500.04 and 500.11 as misbranded, meaning their labeling did not meet state requirements.
The misbranding stop-sale orders require a follow-up visit from a state food safety inspector to release the products for sale. The inspection record shows some products received stop-sale-and-release orders during the same visit, meaning certain items were cleared after corrections were made on site.
Products held beyond their expiration date were voluntarily discarded rather than released.
What These Violations Mean
Hemp extract drinks occupy a closely regulated category in Florida. State law requires specific labeling, including an expiration date, precisely because these products carry potency and freshness considerations that affect what a consumer is actually ingesting. A drink without an expiration date gives a shopper no way to know whether the product is within its intended shelf life. One that has already passed that date is being sold in a condition the manufacturer no longer stands behind.
The color additive prohibition exists because Florida law restricts hemp extract products from being marketed in ways that appeal to children. Products with bright colors or candy-like appearances fall into that category regardless of whether the store intends to sell them to minors.
Operating without a valid food permit is not a paperwork technicality. The permit system is how the state tracks which establishments are subject to routine inspection and enforcement. A store selling food and beverages without a current permit is operating outside that oversight structure entirely.
The absence of soap and paper towels at handwashing sinks, combined with no handwashing reminder sign, matters even in a retail setting where employees handle food packaging, self-service items, and customer-facing surfaces throughout the day. Both were corrected during the inspection, but their absence before inspectors arrived is what the record reflects.
The Longer Record
The December 19 inspection was classified as an operating-without-a-valid-food-permit visit requiring a product re-inspection, which means the store triggered this visit at least in part by failing to secure its 2025 permit before continuing to operate. That framing places the permit lapse at the center of what brought inspectors through the door.
None of the 11 violations documented were marked as repeat citations, meaning the inspection record does not show these same problems surfacing in a prior documented visit. The data does not include a prior inspection count for this facility, so the full scope of the store's inspection history is not available from this record alone.
What the December record does show is a store that, on that day, was selling hemp products that were expired or mislabeled, lacked the required age-restriction signage, and had no valid permit authorizing it to operate. Several of the stop-sale orders issued on misbranded products remained unresolved at the time of the inspection, pending a follow-up inspector visit for written release.