ORANGE PARK, FL. A state inspector visiting Akaya Grill & Sushi on Oakleaf Plantation Parkway on August 28 found food from an unapproved or unknown source being served at a restaurant where raw fish is a centerpiece of the menu, and left without ordering the restaurant closed.
That single violation, food from unapproved sources, was one of seven high-severity citations logged that day. Four intermediate violations accompanied them.
What Inspectors Found
The inspection also found that the restaurant had no written employee health policy and that employees were not reporting illness symptoms. Those two violations compound each other. A restaurant with no formal policy gives workers no framework for knowing when to stay home, and workers who aren't reporting symptoms aren't being screened out of the kitchen.
Improper handwashing technique rounded out what inspectors characterized as a cluster of disease-transmission risks. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Multi-use utensils were also cited as improperly cleaned, and single-use items were being reused.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, a required disclosure for any establishment serving sushi or other raw items. Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. Toilet facilities were cited as inadequate or improperly maintained, a condition that directly undermines whatever handwashing does occur.
What These Violations Mean
Food from an unapproved or unknown source is among the most serious categories in food safety enforcement, and at a sushi restaurant it carries particular weight. When fish or other ingredients enter a kitchen without passing through USDA or FDA-regulated supply chains, there is no traceability if a customer gets sick. Inspectors cannot identify the supplier, cannot pull the lot, and cannot determine whether the product was handled safely before it arrived. Listeria, Salmonella, and hepatitis A are among the pathogens associated with uninspected seafood.
The combination of no employee health policy and no illness-reporting practice is what public health officials call an outbreak enabler. Food workers are the primary transmission route for Norovirus, which causes more foodborne illness in the United States than any other pathogen. A written policy is not paperwork for its own sake. It is the mechanism by which a sick worker gets sent home before handling food that goes directly to a customer's plate.
Improper handwashing technique matters even when employees are washing their hands at all. Studies have shown that ineffective technique, insufficient duration, skipping soap, or failing to reach all surfaces, leaves enough pathogen load on hands to contaminate surfaces and food. At Akaya, that risk was compounded by food contact surfaces cited as improperly cleaned and multi-use utensils with the same problem. Each failure extends the contamination chain further.
Improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals near a food operation represent a different category of risk entirely: acute chemical poisoning through mislabeled containers or proximity to food prep surfaces. It is a violation that can cause harm in a single incident rather than through accumulated exposure.
The Longer Record
The August 28 inspection did not happen in isolation. Four days earlier, on August 24, a separate inspection of Akaya found 13 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate ones, the highest single-visit high-severity count in the facility's recent history. The restaurant was not closed after that inspection either.
The pattern extends back years. State records show 32 total inspections on file for the facility, with 422 total violations on record. That averages more than 13 violations per inspection across the full history.
The inspection record shows a recurring cycle. A high-violation inspection is followed by a passing inspection, then another high-violation visit months later. In March 2026, inspectors found 9 high-severity violations. A follow-up one week later showed zero. In February 2025, inspectors found 12 high-severity violations. Three days later, zero. In August 2024, 8 high-severity violations. Two months later, zero.
The facility was emergency-closed once before, in February 2015, for roach activity. It reopened the following day. That closure is the only one in a record that now spans more than a decade and more than 400 documented violations.
Open for Business
The August 28 inspection cited food from an unknown source at a raw-fish restaurant, found no system for keeping sick workers out of the kitchen, documented improper technique when workers did wash their hands, and noted that customers ordering raw items had no written advisory telling them what they were eating.
Akaya Grill & Sushi remained open after the inspection.
