MIAMI, FL. When state inspectors walked into Bonding on South Miami Avenue on May 8, they found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning no USDA or FDA inspection trail existed for ingredients that went directly onto customer plates.
That was one of ten high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The violations on May 8 span nearly every critical control point in a commercial kitchen. Inspectors cited inadequate handwashing by food employees, food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and food that was not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
Two separate violations involved toxic chemicals. Inspectors cited both improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals and toxic substances that were improperly identified, stored, or used. Both citations indicate chemicals were present in conditions that created a contamination risk to food.
Inspectors also cited inadequate shell stock identification records. Bonding serves shellfish, and without proper tagging records, there is no way to trace oysters, clams, or mussels back to their harvest source if a customer gets sick. The restaurant was also cited for failing to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers had no written notice that what they ordered carried elevated risk.
Time as a public health control was documented as improperly used. That means food was allowed to sit in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, without adequate tracking or disposal protocols.
What These Violations Mean
The food from unapproved source citation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. When ingredients bypass USDA or FDA inspection, there is no safety checkpoint before the food reaches the kitchen. If a contaminated product causes illness, investigators cannot trace it back to its origin. Bonding received this citation on May 8.
Undercooking is a direct pathogen survival risk. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. E. coli in ground beef survives below 155 degrees. When inspectors document that food was not cooked to required minimums, they are recording conditions under which those pathogens can reach a customer's plate alive.
The dual chemical citations compound the risk. Improperly stored chemicals near food can contaminate ingredients, prep surfaces, or finished dishes without any visible sign. Mislabeled chemical containers create a secondary hazard: employees may use a substance without knowing its concentration or intended purpose.
For anyone who ate at Bonding in the days surrounding May 8, the combination of unapproved sourcing, inadequate cooking temperatures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and improper handwashing represents a layered exposure. Each violation individually is a documented risk. Together, they describe a kitchen where multiple safeguards failed at once.
The Longer Record
Bonding: High-Severity Violations Over Time
May 8 was not an outlier. State records show 29 inspections on file for Bonding, with 328 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent inspection before May 8 was on March 10, 2026, just two months earlier. That visit produced 7 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. The visit before that, in March 2025, produced 9 high-severity violations. The pattern across eight documented inspection cycles shows the count of high-severity violations has never dropped to zero, and in most cases has exceeded five.
Two inspections were conducted on the same day in June 2024. The first produced 5 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate. The second, a callback on the same date, still found 1 high-severity violation remaining.
The May 8 inspection, with 10 high-severity violations, is the highest single-visit count in the recent record shown here. It came two months after a 7-high inspection, which itself came three months after a 9-high inspection.
Bonding remained open after inspectors left on May 8.