EAST PALATKA, FL. State inspectors visiting Antonio's New York Style Pizza on US Highway 17 on April 30 found food from an unapproved or unknown source being used in the kitchen, a violation that means there is no way to trace that food back through any federal safety inspection if a customer gets sick.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
Beyond the sourcing issue, inspectors found toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food, a condition that can cause acute poisoning if a chemical contaminates an ingredient or a mislabeled container is mistaken for something else.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touches ingredients directly, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also cited employees for improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning workers were going through the motions of handwashing without removing pathogens.
The restaurant had no written employee health policy, no demonstrated allergen awareness, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Two intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, and the facility's cooling and cold-holding equipment was found to be inadequate.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation is the one that most limits anyone's ability to respond if customers become ill. Food from unapproved sources has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection, which means if it carries Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli, there is no supply chain record to follow. An outbreak investigation would hit a wall.
The absence of an employee health policy compounds that risk directly. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to keep a sick worker out of the kitchen. Norovirus, one of the most contagious foodborne pathogens, spreads through exactly this gap. A single ill employee can contaminate food that reaches dozens of customers before anyone knows there is a problem.
The allergen awareness citation is its own category of danger. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and reactions send roughly 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. A kitchen that cannot demonstrate allergen awareness is one where a customer's stated allergy may not be communicated, tracked, or respected through the preparation process.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils work together to create conditions for bacterial transfer across every dish prepared. Bacterial biofilms can form on utensil surfaces within 24 hours and resist standard cleaning once established. Paired with inadequate cold-holding equipment that cannot keep food out of the temperature danger zone, the April 30 inspection described a kitchen operating under compounding failures, not isolated ones.
The Longer Record
Antonio's has five inspections on record, and the pattern across them is not improving. The facility's total violation count across all inspections stands at 54, with the bulk of those concentrated in high-severity categories.
The most recent prior inspection, in December 2025, produced 10 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. The inspection before that, in April 2025, generated 12 high-severity violations with no intermediates. A January 2025 visit found no violations at all, and a separate January 2025 inspection found 1 high and 1 intermediate.
That January clean inspection stands out against the rest of the record. Three of the four other inspections on file each produced double-digit violation counts, all in the high-severity category. The April 30, 2026 inspection, with 7 high-severity violations, is not an outlier for this location. It is consistent with what inspectors have found here repeatedly.
The facility has never been emergency-closed. That fact sits alongside a record showing 22 high-severity violations across just two inspections in 2025, before this year's visit added seven more.
Still Open
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. On April 30, with food of unknown origin in the kitchen, chemicals stored near food, and no mechanism to keep sick employees away from food preparation, that threshold was not met at Antonio's New York Style Pizza.
The restaurant remained open.