MIAMI, FL. Inspectors visiting Bahamas Fish Market and Restaurant #2 at 13399 SW 42nd Street on July 27 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, and no written employee health policy in place. They documented seven high-severity violations. Then they left the restaurant open.
The facility has 489 total violations across 26 inspections on record. It has never been emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ordered a meal that day. At a fish market and restaurant, the concern is not abstract. Seafood and poultry that do not reach required internal temperatures can harbor Salmonella, Vibrio, and other pathogens that survive the cooking process entirely.
Alongside the undercooking finding, inspectors cited toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly. At a restaurant, chemicals kept near food preparation surfaces or mislabeled containers create a contamination route that does not require a mistake to be dangerous. One wrong reach, one unlabeled bottle, is enough.
The inspector also noted that required procedures for specialized processes were not being followed. For a facility that markets and sells fish, this category covers processes like reduced-oxygen packaging and curing, where precise controls are not optional. They are what separates safe product from a vehicle for botulism.
No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked items. Customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised rely on that notice to make informed decisions about what they order.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and no employee health policy is particularly dangerous at a seafood-forward operation. Norovirus, one of the leading causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads directly from sick food workers to customers when there is no policy requiring employees to report illness and stay home. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to catch that exposure before it reaches a plate.
Improper handwashing technique compounds that risk. The violation is not that employees skipped handwashing entirely. It is that the technique used was wrong, meaning pathogens remain on hands even after a washing attempt. In a kitchen handling raw fish and cooked product simultaneously, that is a direct cross-contamination pathway.
The absence of a responsible person in charge at the time of inspection matters beyond the paperwork. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times more critical violations. When no one is running the kitchen with authority to correct problems in real time, the other six high-severity findings become easier to understand.
Improperly stored chemicals near food are not a theoretical risk. Acute chemical poisoning from restaurant food has been documented in cases where cleaning agents were stored in unmarked containers or placed on shelves above food prep surfaces. The inspector flagged this at Bahamas Fish Market on July 27.
The Longer Record
Bahamas Fish Market #2: Recent Inspection History
The July 27 inspection was not an outlier. Every single inspection on record for the past three years has produced high-severity violations. The count has ranged from five to twelve high-severity findings per visit, and the most recent eight inspections show no sustained downward trend.
The October 2025 inspection produced 12 high-severity violations and 7 intermediate ones, the worst single visit in the recent record. Two months later, in May 2026, inspectors returned twice within two weeks. The May 7 visit produced 9 high-severity violations. The May 21 visit produced 7. The July 27 visit produced 7 again.
Across 26 inspections, the facility has accumulated 489 total violations. It has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Inspectors visited Bahamas Fish Market and Restaurant #2 on July 27, documented seven high-severity violations including undercooked food and improperly stored toxic chemicals, and determined that threshold was not met.
The restaurant served customers that day. It was open the next day. It has been open through 489 violations and 26 inspections without a single emergency closure on record.
