AVE MARIA, FL. Inspectors visiting Blue Agave Mexican Restaurant at 5080 Annunciation Circle on August 18 found toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, shellfish on hand with no traceability records, food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and employees washing their hands incorrectly — six high-severity violations in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The toxic chemical storage violation is among the most acute hazards inspectors can document in a food service setting. State records do not specify which chemicals were involved or precisely where they were stored, but the category covers cleaning agents and sanitizers that, if they contaminate food or food-contact surfaces, can cause immediate poisoning.
Inspectors also found that Blue Agave had shellfish on hand without the required shell stock identification tags or records. That finding matters because shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, and the tagging system is the only mechanism that allows health officials to trace a contaminated batch back to its harvest source if customers become sick.
The food contact surface violation compounds the handwashing finding. Cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that are not properly cleaned and sanitized between uses become transfer points for bacteria from raw proteins to ready-to-eat food. The intermediate citation for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned adds to that picture.
The restaurant was also cited for food in poor condition, which the state defines as spoiled, contaminated, mislabeled, or adulterated food. And it had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, meaning customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised had no way to know they were ordering a dish that carries elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing technique violation is easy to underestimate. An employee who attempts to wash their hands but does so incorrectly, skipping the required scrubbing duration or missing parts of the hand and wrist, leaves pathogens on their hands at levels nearly identical to no wash at all. At a restaurant where food contact surfaces were simultaneously found to be improperly sanitized, those two violations together describe a kitchen where bacterial transfer from raw food to finished plates had no reliable barrier.
The shellfish traceability failure carries a different kind of risk. If a customer at Blue Agave becomes ill after eating shellfish, the absence of shell stock records means investigators cannot identify which harvest lot was involved, which body of water it came from, or how many other restaurants received product from the same source. That gap does not make illness more likely, but it makes the response to an outbreak significantly harder and slower.
Improperly stored toxic chemicals near food represent the one violation category on the August 18 report that can cause harm without any bacterial process at all. Contamination can be invisible and immediate.
The Pattern
The August 18 inspection was not an outlier. Blue Agave has now been inspected 18 times, accumulating 91 total violations across that history, and has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent seven inspections before August 18 tell a consistent story. The visit on October 31, 2025 produced three high-severity and three intermediate violations. The July 21, 2025 inspection produced four high and three intermediate. February and January of 2025 each produced three or four high-severity violations. The September 2024 inspection produced three high violations.
The restaurant did pass two inspections cleanly, on May 17 and February 26 of 2024, with zero high or intermediate violations on either occasion. But the May 16, 2024 inspection, one day before the clean pass, had produced six high-severity and three intermediate violations, the same high-severity count as the August 18, 2026 visit.
The Longer Record
Six high-severity violations in a single inspection is a serious threshold. The state has emergency-closed restaurants in Florida for fewer violations when the specific findings involved immediate threats, including live pest activity or severe temperature failures. Blue Agave's August 18 findings included toxic chemical storage near food and the complete absence of shellfish traceability, both of which the state classifies as high-priority precisely because of their potential to cause acute harm.
Across 18 inspections and 91 total violations, the facility has never triggered an emergency closure order. State records show no indication that pattern is changing.
Blue Agave remained open after the August 18 inspection.
