ORLANDO, FL. Food from an unapproved or unknown source was on the menu at Blue Jacket's Gastropub on New Broad Street, according to state inspection records from June 10 — and that was one of eleven high-severity violations inspectors documented before walking out the door and leaving the restaurant open.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspection of Blue Jacket's Gastropub at 4868 New Broad St. recorded 11 high-priority violations and 2 intermediate violations in a single visit. No emergency closure order followed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious inspectors can document. When a restaurant cannot identify where its food comes from, there is no chain of traceability if a customer gets sick. USDA and FDA inspections of licensed suppliers exist specifically to screen for pathogens like Listeria and Salmonella before product reaches a kitchen. Food that bypasses that system has bypassed those screens entirely.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food not cooked to the required minimum internal temperature. Undercooked poultry can harbor Salmonella that survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Undercooked ground beef can carry E. coli O157:H7. The citation means inspectors observed food leaving the kitchen without reaching the temperatures that kill those bacteria.
Toxic chemicals were documented as improperly stored or labeled. Chemicals stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food through spills, mislabeling, or cross-contact. The citation does not require a spill to have occurred, only that the storage conditions created the conditions for one.
Food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep equipment, were cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. Surfaces that carry residue from one food item to the next are a direct transfer route for bacteria. The violation appeared alongside three separate handwashing citations: inadequate handwashing by employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, and improper hand and arm washing technique. Together, those four violations describe a kitchen where contamination could travel from surface to hand to food with little interruption.
The person in charge was cited as not present or not performing duties. No employee health policy was in place. Employees were not reporting illness symptoms. And there was no consumer advisory posted to warn customers about raw or undercooked items on the menu.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and no illness reporting is particularly significant. Without a written policy, workers have no formal obligation to disclose when they are sick, and managers have no documented procedure for removing them from food handling. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads most efficiently through food workers who continue working while symptomatic. A single ill employee handling food without restrictions can expose hundreds of customers in a single shift.
The handwashing violations compound that risk. Three separate citations covering facilities, technique, and frequency mean inspectors found problems at every stage of the handwashing process: the infrastructure was inadequate, the method was wrong, and employees were not washing when they should have been. Improper technique can leave pathogens on hands even after an attempt to wash. Inspectors documented all three failures at Blue Jacket's on the same day.
The absence of a consumer advisory matters specifically for vulnerable customers. Pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems face significantly higher risks from raw or undercooked proteins. Without a posted advisory, those customers have no way to make an informed decision about what they order.
The inadequate cooling equipment citation means the restaurant's cold-holding infrastructure was not capable of maintaining required temperatures. Food held above 41 degrees Fahrenheit enters a temperature range where bacteria like Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus multiply rapidly. That violation, paired with the food sourcing and undercooking citations, describes a kitchen with compounding failures at multiple points in the food safety chain.
The Longer Record
The June 10 inspection does not represent a new low for this address. State records show 43 inspections on file for Blue Jacket's Gastropub, with 404 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity violations is not new either. The inspection on November 4, 2025 produced 8 high-priority violations. The following day, November 5, 2025, produced 6 more. A March 2025 inspection found 4 high-priority violations. An August 2024 inspection found 4. The June 10, 2026 inspection, with 11 high-priority violations, is the worst single-day count in the recent record, though it was followed the very next day, June 11, 2026, by a follow-up inspection that still found 8 high-priority and 2 intermediate violations.
That follow-up number is striking on its own. A restaurant that logs 11 high-severity violations on a Wednesday and still has 8 the following Thursday has not resolved the underlying conditions that produced the first inspection. Eight high-severity violations on a follow-up is not a correction. It is a continuation.
Still Open
State inspectors documented food of unknown origin, undercooked food, improperly stored toxic chemicals, unsanitized food contact surfaces, three handwashing failures, no illness reporting system, and no manager performing oversight duties, all in a single visit to a restaurant on New Broad Street in Orlando.
Blue Jacket's Gastropub remained open after that inspection.