KEY LARGO, FL. In April 2026, state inspectors walked into Alabama Jack's on Card Sound Road and found that the restaurant had no way to trace where its shellfish came from, no consumer advisory warning customers that raw or undercooked food was on the menu, and no written policy requiring sick employees to report their symptoms before handling food. They cited six high-severity violations in a single visit. Then they left the restaurant open.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish violations stood out. Inspectors cited Alabama Jack's for inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning there was no documentation to show where the oysters, clams, or mussels served that day had come from. They also cited the restaurant for sourcing food from an unapproved or unknown source, a violation that cuts even deeper into the supply chain.
Shellfish are among the highest-risk foods on any menu. They are frequently eaten raw or lightly cooked, and without harvest tags and chain-of-custody records, there is no way to trace an illness back to a specific source if a customer gets sick.
Inspectors also found that no consumer advisory was posted to warn diners that raw or undercooked items were available. At a restaurant where shellfish is a centerpiece of the menu, that absence means customers with compromised immune systems, elderly diners, pregnant women, and young children had no notice of the elevated risk they were taking.
The Employee Health Failures
Beyond the food sourcing problems, the April 16 inspection flagged three separate violations tied to employee illness and hygiene. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no written employee health policy, for failing to ensure employees were reporting illness symptoms, and for improper handwashing technique.
These three violations form a chain. Without a written policy, employees have no formal instruction on when to stay home. Without a reporting requirement in practice, a sick worker has no mechanism to flag a symptom before touching food. And even when handwashing does happen, improper technique leaves pathogens on hands regardless.
Together, the three citations describe a kitchen where the most basic defenses against foodborne illness transmission were not in place on the day inspectors arrived.
What These Violations Mean
The shellfish traceability failure is not a paperwork technicality. When someone becomes ill after eating oysters or clams, public health investigators rely on harvest tags and distributor records to identify the contaminated batch and pull it from circulation. Without those records at Alabama Jack's in April, that trace-back was impossible. Listeria, Salmonella, and Vibrio, a bacterium found in warm Gulf and Atlantic waters, are among the pathogens that can survive in shellfish and cause serious illness.
The employee illness violations carry their own weight. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads primarily when sick food workers handle food before symptoms are reported. A single infected employee working a busy Saturday at a high-volume waterfront bar can expose dozens of customers in a few hours.
The consumer advisory violation compounds the shellfish risk directly. Florida law requires restaurants serving raw or undercooked animal products to post a written disclosure so that diners can make an informed choice. At Alabama Jack's in April, that disclosure was absent. Customers who ate raw shellfish that day had no warning from the establishment that they were doing so.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection was not an aberration. State records show Alabama Jack's has been inspected 25 times and has accumulated 252 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The prior inspection history makes the pattern clear. In April 2025, inspectors found seven high-severity violations and one intermediate, the highest single-visit count in the recent record. In December 2025, four months before this inspection, they found four high-severity violations. In August 2023, six high-severity violations and four intermediate citations. In January 2023, five high-severity and four intermediate.
High-severity violations have appeared at Alabama Jack's in every one of the eight most recent inspections on record. The categories have shifted across visits, but the volume has not. A restaurant with 25 inspections on file and 252 cumulative violations is not a facility with a bad week. It is a facility with a documented multi-year pattern.
None of those 25 inspections resulted in an emergency closure.
The April 16, 2026 visit ended the same way: six high-severity violations documented, one intermediate citation noted, ventilation flagged as inadequate. Inspectors signed off and the restaurant remained open for business on Card Sound Road.