NEW PORT RICHEY, FL. Back in March 2026, a state inspector walked into Bam Bar, a retail bakery with food service on the west side of Pasco County, and found a food employee leave the cash register, pull on gloves, and begin serving food without washing their hands.
That single observation, documented by a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspector on March 30, was one of two priority violations recorded during the visit. Priority violations carry the highest potential for causing foodborne illness. In all, inspectors cited 13 violations that day.
What Inspectors Found
The temperature readings were stark. The inspector measured butter on the counter at 74 degrees Fahrenheit, cut lettuce at 78 degrees, and sliced tomato at 54 degrees. All three are time/temperature control for safety foods, meaning bacterial growth accelerates quickly once they leave refrigeration. The inspector noted all three items had been out of temperature for less than two hours and were cooled back down on site.
The handwashing violation was equally direct. According to the inspector's notes, the employee "left cash register, and donned gloves without washing hands to begin food service." Cash handling is one of the most contamination-prone tasks in any food establishment. The inspector discussed proper handwashing with the employee, who then washed their hands correctly.
Beyond the two priority violations, the inspector documented four priority foundation violations, a category that covers the management systems meant to prevent illness before it starts. The person in charge could not correctly answer questions about how illnesses spread through food. The establishment could not supply documentation proving employees had been informed of their reporting requirements. There were no written procedures for handling a discharge of vomit or diarrhea. A stand mixer attachment was stored in the handwashing sink, blocking access.
Several of the remaining basic violations painted a picture of routine slippage in the food prep area. Spoons used for mixing drinks were stored in standing water. A scoop was buried handle-down in a bin of sugar. Multiple unlabeled containers of sauces sat in the prep area without their common names marked. Employee drinks were stored on the food prep surface. Cardboard lined the shelves of a small refrigerator holding to-go containers of cream cheese, and a mop in the ware wash area was left lying flat rather than hung to dry.
None of the 13 violations were marked as repeat findings from prior inspections.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing failure is among the most direct transmission routes for foodborne illness in any food service setting. Cash is handled by dozens of people before it reaches an employee's hands. Moving from the register to food preparation without washing creates a direct path for pathogens to reach what a customer eats. The gloves did not substitute for the wash.
The temperature violations at Bam Bar are a textbook example of what food safety regulators call the "danger zone," the range between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit where bacteria multiply rapidly. Butter at 74 degrees, lettuce at 78 degrees, and tomato at 54 degrees were all well inside that range. The two-hour window the inspector cited is not a grace period so much as a hard limit: after that point, the food would have required disposal.
The priority foundation violations around illness knowledge carry a different kind of risk. When a person in charge cannot answer basic questions about how foodborne illness spreads, and when employees have no documented awareness of their reporting obligations, the establishment has no reliable early warning system. An employee who does not know they are required to report symptoms of illness may continue working while contagious.
The absence of written vomit and diarrhea cleanup procedures is not a paperwork formality. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in retail food settings, spreads through exactly those events. Without a written protocol, cleanup is improvised, and improvised cleanup frequently leaves contamination behind.
The Longer Record
The March 2026 inspection was the fourth on record for this location. The pattern is uneven. In June 2022, inspectors found zero violations. Fourteen months later, in August 2023, the count jumped to 11. By July 2025, it had dropped to 5, with one repeat violation noted. Then in March 2026, it climbed back to 13.
The 2025 inspection is worth noting alongside the 2026 findings. That visit produced one repeat violation, meaning inspectors had flagged the same issue at least once before and found it again. The March 2026 inspection produced no repeats, but 13 violations in a single visit at a retail bakery is a significant total, particularly when four of them fall in the priority or priority foundation categories.
The establishment met sanitation inspection requirements in March 2026, the same outcome recorded in all three prior inspections. Several violations were corrected on site during the visit: the handwashing issue was addressed, temperatures were brought back down, the blocked sink was cleared, and the improperly stored utensils were washed and sanitized.
What was not corrected on site was the management documentation. The person in charge's inability to answer illness questions, the missing employee health reporting records, and the absence of written vomit and diarrhea procedures were addressed by emailing information and forms to the owner. Whether those documents were completed and put into use after the inspector left is not reflected in the March 30 record.