ORLANDO, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food at Amalfi on Avalon Lake Drive when state inspectors arrived on June 12, and that was only one of six high-severity violations they documented before walking out the door, leaving the restaurant open.
The inspection turned up a list that spanned food safety fundamentals: food in poor or adulterated condition, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items, and two separate violations tied to toxic substances, one for improper storage or labeling and a second for improper identification and use. An intermediate violation for inadequate ventilation and lighting rounded out the report.
What Inspectors Found
The two chemical violations stand out because they are immediate and not contingent on a customer's immune system or how long food sat at the wrong temperature. Chemicals stored or labeled incorrectly near food preparation areas can contaminate ingredients directly, and a mislabeled container can be mistaken for a food-safe product by any employee working a shift.
The cooking temperature violation carries a different but equally direct risk. Undercooking poultry, for example, allows salmonella to survive and reach the plate. There is no visible indicator for a diner that a piece of chicken did not reach the required 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
The food contact surface violation compounds both of those problems. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that are not properly cleaned between uses become transfer points, moving bacteria or chemical residue from one dish to the next without any single ingredient being the source.
What These Violations Mean
The consumer advisory violation is easy to overlook compared to chemicals and temperatures, but it removes a layer of protection for the customers most at risk. Elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system depend on posted advisories to make an informed choice about raw or undercooked items. Without one, those customers have no way of knowing a dish carries elevated risk.
Food in poor, adulterated, or mislabeled condition creates a traceability problem on top of a quality one. If a customer becomes sick after eating at Amalfi, mislabeled ingredients make it harder for public health investigators to trace the source. Adulterated food, whether spoiled or contaminated before it reached the kitchen, should not reach a plate at any stage.
Together, the six high-severity violations documented on June 12 represent failures across multiple points in the food preparation chain, from the moment ingredients arrive and are stored, through cooking, to the information given to the customer at the table. No single system was working correctly.
The Longer Record
The June 12 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Amalfi has accumulated 132 total violations across 20 inspections on record, a pace that works out to more than six violations per visit on average.
The pattern of high-severity violations runs deep. In February 2023, inspectors cited the restaurant for seven high-severity violations and three intermediate ones in a single visit, the worst single inspection in the available record. Four months later, in October 2022, there were four high-severity violations and two intermediate. The cycle repeated in March 2024 with four high-severity and three intermediate, and again in July 2024 with four high-severity and two intermediate.
July 2025 brought a brief stretch of relative calm, with one high-severity violation in mid-July, but a follow-up visit just eight days later on July 10 found five high-severity violations. The January 2026 inspection turned up one high-severity and one intermediate. Then came June 12.
Amalfi has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. Every inspection, including the ones with seven high-severity violations and the one that just added six more, ended with the restaurant remaining open for service.
Open for Business
State inspectors have visited Amalfi at least eight times since October 2022. In six of those eight visits, they documented four or more high-severity violations. The restaurant has not been ordered to close on any of those occasions.
On June 12, 2026, after finding toxic chemicals stored near food, food not cooked to required temperatures, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, adulterated or mislabeled ingredients, and no consumer advisory for raw items, inspectors left Amalfi open.