HOMESTEAD, FL. State inspectors visiting Big Crazy Taco on North Krome Avenue on July 13 found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food areas, improper sewage or wastewater disposal, and a facility operating without a person in charge present or performing duties, among 13 high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
The July inspection also flagged that employees had no health policy in place, that sick workers were not required to report illness symptoms, and that handwashing failures appeared at three separate levels: inadequate facilities, inadequate technique, and employees simply not washing at all. Four intermediate violations accompanied the 13 high-priority citations.
What Inspectors Found
The sewage violation alone placed the entire facility at risk of fecal contamination. Improper wastewater disposal can spread pathogens throughout a kitchen, across surfaces, and into food preparation areas, and inspectors cited it as an intermediate violation alongside the 13 high-priority findings.
Parasite destruction procedures were not followed, meaning fish or pork served to customers may not have been frozen or cooked to the temperatures required to kill Anisakis, tapeworm, or Trichinella. Shell stock identification records were also inadequate, meaning that if a customer became ill after eating shellfish, health officials would have no traceability to identify the source.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and multi-use utensils were also cited. Together, those two violations mean that the surfaces and tools used to prepare every item on the menu were potential vehicles for bacterial transfer.
No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods. Customers ordering anything prepared below full cook temperature, including any raw fish preparation, had no notice of the risk.
What These Violations Mean
The three handwashing violations documented at Big Crazy Taco in July are not duplicates. They represent three distinct failures in the same facility: the physical infrastructure for handwashing was inadequate, employees were not washing their hands when required, and when handwashing occurred, the technique was improper. Improper technique leaves pathogens on hands even when a worker makes the attempt. All three failures existed simultaneously.
The absence of an employee health policy, combined with the separate citation for employees not reporting illness symptoms, creates a direct transmission pathway for Norovirus, which causes an estimated 20 million illnesses in the United States annually. Without a written policy and without a reporting requirement, a sick employee preparing food has no institutional barrier stopping them from doing so.
Toxic chemicals stored improperly near food represent one of the most acute short-term risks in any restaurant inspection. Unlike bacterial contamination, which builds over time, chemical contamination can cause immediate, severe poisoning from a single meal. Mislabeled containers compound the risk because workers may not recognize what they are handling.
The combination of no person in charge, no health policy, and sewage disposal failures at a single facility on a single day points to a systemic breakdown, not an isolated lapse. CDC data cited in the inspection records indicates that establishments without active managerial control have three times more critical violations than those with effective oversight.
The Longer Record
Big Crazy Taco: Inspection Pattern, 2024-2026
Big Crazy Taco has 34 inspections on record and 533 total violations across its history. The July 2026 inspection, with 13 high-severity citations, is the highest single-visit high-priority count in the recent record, exceeding even the November 2024 visit that triggered an emergency closure for roach activity.
That November 2024 closure followed 12 high-priority violations and 7 intermediate citations in a single inspection. The facility was allowed to reopen the following day after a follow-up visit, which still documented 6 high and 4 intermediate violations. The pattern since then has been consistent: every inspection in the record for 2025 and 2026 has produced at least 4 high-severity violations.
The July 2026 inspection produced 13.
The facility was not closed.
