MERRITT ISLAND, FL. A state inspector walked into Alfredo Paradiso on Crockett Boulevard on April 29 and documented that the restaurant was sourcing food from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning that some of what it was serving customers that day had never been inspected by the USDA or FDA.
That was one of six high-severity violations cited in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. Inspectors also found that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures, a finding that compounds the sourcing problem: ingredients with no federal inspection history, served undercooked.
The inspector additionally found that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, and that handwashing technique was improper. Those two violations together describe a scenario where a sick employee could handle food without anyone flagging it, and then wash their hands in a way that leaves pathogens behind.
Two more high-severity citations rounded out the list. The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, leaving elderly diners, pregnant women, and customers with compromised immune systems without the warning the state requires. Staff demonstrated no allergen awareness, a violation that affects the roughly 32 million Americans who manage food allergies.
On the intermediate level, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal and multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When a restaurant buys from a supplier outside the regulated supply chain, there is no traceability. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the ingredient back to its origin, and any contamination at the source goes undetected until someone is already ill. At Alfredo Paradiso, that unapproved sourcing was paired with a cooking temperature violation, meaning potentially uninspected food was also being served without the heat treatment that kills pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli.
The illness reporting failure is the violation that public health officials call an outbreak enabler. Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through exactly this pathway: a sick worker, no reporting requirement enforced, food handled throughout a shift. The improper handwashing technique citation makes that risk worse. A worker who attempts to wash their hands but uses incorrect technique, such as insufficient duration or skipping soap, can transfer pathogens to every surface they touch afterward.
The allergen awareness violation is distinct from the others but carries its own severity. Allergic reactions to food send approximately 30,000 people to emergency rooms in the United States each year. When staff cannot demonstrate awareness of common allergens, a customer with a serious allergy who asks about ingredients is relying on a guess.
The Longer Record
The April 29 inspection was not Alfredo Paradiso's worst on record, but it fits a pattern that runs across years of state data. The restaurant has 29 inspections on file and has accumulated 341 total violations, a number that averages to nearly 12 violations per inspection visit across its history.
The most recent prior inspection before April 29 came on December 10, 2025, when inspectors cited 4 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. Before that, a May 2025 inspection produced 7 high-severity violations with no intermediate citations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
Going further back, the December 2023 inspection produced 2 high-severity violations, and the March 2023 visit found 1 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. The pattern is not one of isolated bad days. It is a facility that has cycled through high-severity citations across multiple inspection cycles, in multiple categories, without triggering a closure order.
The April 30 follow-up inspection, the day after the six-violation visit, showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. That same-day correction is noted in the record. The 341 violations accumulated across 29 inspections remain.
Still Open
State rules allow inspectors to close a restaurant immediately when conditions pose an imminent threat to public health. Six high-severity violations, including unapproved food sourcing, undercooking, an illness-reporting failure, and no allergen awareness, did not meet that threshold on April 29 at Alfredo Paradiso.
The restaurant on Crockett Boulevard served customers that day and remained open.