SAINT AUGUSTINE, FL. State inspectors visiting Baitong Thai & Sushi Restaurant at 3915 A1A S on August 27 documented food coming from an unapproved or unknown source, a violation that means inspectors could not confirm whether the ingredients entering that kitchen had ever passed a USDA or FDA safety check.
That finding was one of seven high-severity violations recorded in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious an inspector can document at a sushi restaurant. Raw fish served without a verified supply chain cannot be traced if a customer gets sick, and it may have bypassed the cold-chain and pathogen-testing requirements that licensed distributors must meet.
Alongside that, inspectors cited an employee for not reporting illness symptoms. At a restaurant that serves raw fish and handles food without barriers between the worker and the plate, an unreported illness is a direct transmission route to every customer served that shift.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That is a separate and unrelated hazard from the biological ones: a mislabeled chemical or one stored above a food prep surface can contaminate an entire batch of food before anyone notices.
The inspector also found that required procedures for specialized processes were not being followed. For a Thai and sushi restaurant, those specialized processes likely include the handling of raw fish intended to be served uncooked, which requires precise temperature controls and sourcing protocols beyond standard food storage rules.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sources and improper specialized processes is particularly pointed at a sushi restaurant. Raw fish that bypasses licensed distributor checks may carry Listeria or Salmonella at levels that would have triggered a rejection at a licensed facility. When the procedures meant to control those risks are also not being followed, the two violations compound each other.
The employee illness reporting failure is not a paperwork problem. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks, spreads through food handled by a sick worker with no visible symptoms other than nausea or diarrhea. A restaurant with seven workers and no illness-reporting protocol is a restaurant where one sick employee can infect dozens of customers before anyone connects the cases.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils round out a picture of a kitchen where bacterial transfer between raw and ready-to-eat food is not being controlled at multiple points in the process. At a restaurant serving both raw sushi and cooked Thai dishes, those surfaces are shared.
The consumer advisory violation is the quietest of the seven high-severity citations but it affects the most vulnerable customers directly. Elderly diners, pregnant women, and people on immunosuppressant medications rely on that advisory to make an informed choice about raw fish. Without it, they are not warned.
The Longer Record
The August 27 inspection was not an anomaly. It was the third serious inspection at this location in 14 months.
In July 2025, inspectors cited five high-severity and one intermediate violation. Five months later, in December 2025, they returned and found eight high-severity and two intermediate violations. The restaurant cleared both follow-up inspections with zero high-severity violations, then accumulated seven more by late August 2026.
The facility has 70 inspections on record and 386 total violations. It has been emergency-closed twice, both times for roach activity: once in July 2018, and again in May 2024, when it was shut down for three days before reopening.
The pattern across those 70 inspections is a recurring cycle. Serious violations appear, the restaurant clears a follow-up, and months later the serious violations return. The December 2025 inspection found eight high-severity violations. Four months later, in April 2026, the same kitchen had zero. Four months after that, it had seven again.
That cycle has repeated across multiple years and multiple inspection categories, from pest activity serious enough to trigger two emergency closures, to food safety process failures of the kind documented this month.
Still Open
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when they determine that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. After the August 27 inspection at Baitong Thai & Sushi, with seven high-severity violations including unapproved food sources, unreported employee illness, and improperly stored toxic chemicals, that determination was not made.
The restaurant remained open.
