, FL. A dead roach on the floor near the beer cooler, black mold-like buildup on walk-in cooler shelving, and raw shell eggs stored directly above ready-to-drink juices greeted a state inspector at Apm Corner Store during a September 24 visit that turned up five violations, including two classified as priority concerns.
The roach finding was not new. State records show inspectors had flagged the condition of the physical facility before, and the dead roach citation on September 24 was marked as a repeat violation.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector's notes on the walk-in cooler lay out two separate problems in the same space. On one shelf, a container of raw shell eggs sat directly over ready-to-drink juices, a configuration that puts packaged beverages at risk of contamination from egg drippings or cracked shells. The eggs were relocated to the bottom shelf during the inspection.
On a separate shelf nearest the walk-in cooler door, jugs of milk recently placed on the shelf measured an internal temperature of 44 degrees Fahrenheit. The safe upper limit for cold-held dairy is 41 degrees. The out-of-temperature milk was moved to the freezer to bring it down to 41 degrees before being repositioned on the shelf furthest from the door, or discarded.
Neither priority violation remained unresolved at the end of the inspection, but neither was corrected before the inspector arrived.
The walk-in cooler had a third problem of its own. The inspector documented "black mold-like buildup on beverage shelving along the back wall near the door." That citation was not marked as corrected on site.
The store also lacks a certified food protection manager, a credential that requires passing a recognized food safety exam. That violation was not corrected on site either.
The Repeat Problem
The dead roach finding carries particular weight because it is marked as a repeat. State records show that the physical facilities violation category has been cited at this location before, and the September 24 inspection placed it under the repeat designation again.
A single dead roach in a corner near the beer cooler may seem minor on its own. But a repeat citation in the same category signals that whatever corrective steps were taken after the prior citation, they did not hold.
None of the five violations cited on September 24 were corrected on site. The two priority violations, the raw eggs and the out-of-temperature milk, were addressed during the inspection visit. The mold buildup, the absent food safety certification, and the physical facilities condition remained unresolved when the inspector left.
What These Violations Mean
The raw egg storage violation is the most acutely dangerous finding in this inspection. Raw shell eggs can carry Salmonella on their shells or inside the egg itself. When eggs are stored above ready-to-drink beverages, any crack, leak, or drip carries bacteria directly onto packaging that customers will handle and then drink from without any cooking step to kill pathogens. The risk is not theoretical, and the corrective step of moving eggs to the bottom shelf is standard practice precisely because gravity makes the danger obvious.
The temperature violation matters for a different reason. Milk held at 44 degrees instead of 41 degrees does not immediately spoil, but the three-degree gap accelerates bacterial growth in a product that customers assume is safe based on its sell-by date alone. That date is calculated assuming proper cold storage. When the cold chain breaks, even briefly, the date on the label becomes unreliable.
The black mold-like buildup on beverage shelving in the walk-in cooler is not a priority violation under state rules, but it signals a cleaning frequency problem in the same enclosed space where the temperature and egg violations were also found. Three separate problems in one cooler suggest the walk-in is not receiving consistent attention.
The absence of a certified food protection manager is a structural gap. State rules require at least one person at a food establishment to hold a recognized food safety certification. That person is responsible for ensuring that other violations, like improper storage and temperature control, are caught before an inspector arrives.
The Longer Record
Apm Corner Store has three inspections on record with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The September 24 visit is the most violation-heavy of the three, turning up five citations including two priority findings and one repeat.
The most recent prior inspection, a focused visit on September 14, found zero violations. That visit came just ten days before the September 24 inspection that documented the roach, the mold, the temperature problem, and the egg storage issue. A clean focused inspection followed ten days later by five violations, two of them priority-level, raises questions about what changed in that window and whether the focused inspection covered the same areas the September 24 inspector examined.
The earliest inspection on record, from April 7, found one violation marked as repeat: operating without a valid food permit. That citation, combined with the repeat physical facilities violation on September 24, means two of the three inspections at this location have included at least one repeat finding.
The black mold on the walk-in cooler shelving and the missing food protection manager certification were both unresolved when the inspector closed out the September 24 report.
