FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. Back in April 2026, a state inspector walked into Brunia's Caribbean Take Out Restaurant on N SR 7 and found food that had not been cooked to the minimum required temperature, toxic chemicals stored improperly near the food operation, and not a single person in charge present or performing their duties. The restaurant collected 8 high-severity violations that day. It was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat on that list. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit and can cause severe illness. A restaurant selling Caribbean food, where chicken and other poultry dishes are standard menu items, serving food that has not reached that threshold is not a paperwork problem.
The chemicals violation compounds the picture. Improperly stored or unlabeled toxic chemicals near a food operation create a contamination risk that can cause acute poisoning, and mislabeled containers are among the most common causes of accidental chemical ingestion in food service settings.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited on the same visit: employees not washing their hands adequately, and employees using improper technique when they did wash. Both were marked high severity. Food contact surfaces were also cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized, which means bacteria can transfer directly onto whatever food is prepared on them next.
Rounding out the high-severity list: no written employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and no person in charge on site or performing supervisory duties. That combination, an absent manager, no health policy, and workers not required to disclose illness, describes the conditions under which a single sick employee can trigger a multi-customer outbreak without any intervention point in place to stop it.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing findings deserve particular attention. Two separate citations, one for inadequate handwashing and one for improper technique, were issued on the same inspection. That is not redundant. The first means employees were skipping handwashing steps entirely; the second means that even when they did wash, the method left pathogens on their hands. Together, those two violations describe a kitchen where contamination from hands to food was a continuous, uninterrupted risk on April 14.
The absence of an employee health policy is not a clerical oversight. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism requiring workers who are experiencing symptoms of Norovirus, Salmonella, or Hepatitis A to stay home or report their condition to a supervisor. Norovirus alone accounts for roughly 20 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary transmission vector. At Brunia's in April, there was no documented policy requiring them to say anything.
The food contact surface violation ties directly to the multi-use utensil citation listed under intermediate violations. Improperly cleaned surfaces and utensils develop bacterial biofilms that standard wiping does not remove. Every dish prepared on an unsanitized surface after a raw protein is a potential cross-contamination event.
The Longer Record
The April 14 inspection did not occur in isolation. State records show Brunia's Caribbean Take Out has accumulated 353 violations across 42 inspections on record, and has been emergency-closed twice.
The most recent closure was February 11, 2026, just two months before the April inspection, when inspectors ordered the restaurant shut for roach activity. It reopened the following day after a callback inspection recorded 1 high and 1 intermediate violation. The first closure on record was May 2017, also for roach activity, with a two-day closure before reinspection.
The pattern across the eight most recent inspections is consistent. The July 2024 visit produced 9 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate ones. The March 2025 callback inspection found 6 high-severity violations the day before a follow-up recorded 3. The September 2025 visit found 5 high and 3 intermediate violations. No single inspection in that stretch recorded zero high-severity citations.
The February 2026 closure for roach activity and the April 2026 visit with 8 high-severity violations represent back-to-back serious findings within 62 days. The violations cited in April, including absent management, no health policy, employees not reporting illness, and undercooked food, are not the kind that appear without warning. They reflect operational conditions that develop over time.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented 8 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations at Brunia's Caribbean Take Out on April 14, 2026. The violations included food served below required cooking temperatures, toxic chemicals stored improperly, two separate handwashing failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no employee health policy, no illness reporting by staff, and no manager present.
The restaurant was not closed.