FERNANDINA BEACH, FL. Inspectors visiting Bantam and Biddy at 4800 First Coast Highway on May 21 found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled alongside a second, separate citation for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, two distinct chemical-handling failures documented in the same visit at a restaurant that never closed its doors.
The May 21 inspection produced 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. State inspectors left the facility open.
What Inspectors Found
The two chemical violations stand out because they are distinct citations, not duplicates. One covers improper storage or labeling of toxic chemicals near food. The other covers improper identification, storage, or use of toxic substances. Together they describe a kitchen where chemicals were neither correctly kept away from food nor correctly identified or handled.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for having no employee health policy, or an inadequate one. That citation sat alongside a finding that employees were using improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning workers were attempting to wash their hands but doing it wrong, leaving pathogens on their hands regardless.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned. Single-use items were being reused.
The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, which is required to warn customers who may be at elevated risk. And no person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The two chemical violations carry an immediate risk that is different in kind from the other citations. Chemicals stored near food, or chemicals that are mislabeled or misidentified, can cause acute poisoning without any visible sign that something is wrong. A customer would have no way of knowing.
The absence of an employee health policy is a structural failure, not a single incident. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to keep a sick worker out of the kitchen. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads through exactly this route: an infected food worker with no instruction to stay home, handling food that goes directly to customers.
Improper handwashing technique compounds that risk. The citation does not mean employees skipped handwashing. It means they went through the motion and it did not work. Studies show that incorrect technique leaves enough pathogen load on hands to contaminate surfaces and food.
Food contact surfaces that are not properly cleaned or sanitized, combined with multi-use utensils that are not properly cleaned, create a pathway for bacterial transfer from one preparation cycle to the next. The absence of a person in charge during the inspection is consistent with the rest of the picture: CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times as many critical violations.
The Longer Record
The May 21 inspection is not an outlier for this location. Records show 16 inspections on file and 151 total violations documented across the facility's history.
The pattern of high-severity findings is consistent and recent. The October 2025 inspection produced 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations, an exact match for the May 2026 count. The January 2025 inspection produced 7 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations. The September 2024 inspection produced 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. The January 2024 inspection produced 6 high-severity violations.
That is four inspections in roughly 18 months, each producing between 6 and 7 high-severity violations. The facility passed clean inspections in February 2025 and September 2022, which means the problems are not permanent fixtures but recur at a rate that the clean inspections have not interrupted.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record.
Still Open
State inspectors documented 7 high-severity violations at Bantam and Biddy on May 21, 2026, including two separate chemical-handling failures, no employee health policy, and no person in charge on the premises. The same violation count, 7 high-severity citations, appeared in three of the four most recent inspections before this one.
The restaurant remained open after the May 21 visit.