TAMPA, FL. Back in March 2026, state inspectors walked into Bud's Supermarket on Tampa and found the convenience store operating without a valid food permit, a black mold-like buildup coating the inside of the ice maker, and a handwashing sink blocked by a large silver container, all on the same visit.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspection, conducted March 19, 2026, documented 18 total violations, including one priority violation and six violations classified as priority foundation, meaning they relate to the basic systems a food establishment needs to operate safely.
What Inspectors Found
The ice maker was the first thing shut down. Inspectors documented a "black mold-like build-up inside ice maker" and issued a stop-use order, citing Florida statute 500.04 and 500.172 for unsanitary equipment. That ice maker was not cleared for use during the inspection.
The three-compartment sink used for washing equipment and utensils was also placed under a stop-use order. Inspectors noted "unclean three compartment sink basins" and "old food build-up in spray nozzle," and separately found no air gap beneath the drain, a plumbing configuration that creates a direct connection between the sewage system and the sink. A fourth stop-use order was issued for the handwashing sink, which had no soap or paper towels and, in the warewashing area, was blocked entirely by a large silver container.
In the retail area, inspectors found raw shell eggs stored directly above soda bottles in a reach-in cooler. That violation was corrected on the spot, with the eggs relocated to proper storage.
Packages of crackers and Oreos were being sold individually on the retail floor without required labeling, missing the common name, ingredients, net weight, and address. Inspectors had those packages pulled from the floor and moved behind the cashier counter.
The plumbing problems extended beyond the sinks. The inspector noted water leaking when the handwashing sink was turned on, and a disconnected tube beneath the restroom handwashing sink. The restroom also had no self-closing door and no signage telling employees to wash their hands.
No Permit, No Thermometer, No Written Plan
The store was operating without a valid food permit at the time of the inspection. The inspector noted that an application had been submitted and that the establishment had 10 days to remit the appropriate fee.
There was no probe thermometer available anywhere in the store. There were no sanitizer test kits. There were no written procedures for employees to follow in the event of a vomiting or diarrhea incident. The person in charge, when questioned by the inspector, "did not respond correctly to questions that relate to preventing transmission of food borne illness."
There was no Certified Food Protection Manager on record.
What These Violations Mean
The black mold buildup inside the ice maker is the most direct food-contact concern from this inspection. Ice is consumed directly, and a machine with mold-like contamination on its interior surfaces transfers that contamination to every piece of ice it produces. That is why inspectors placed it under a stop-use order rather than simply citing it and moving on.
The blocked and unsupplied handwashing sinks are a compounding problem. When employees cannot wash their hands, because the sink is blocked, because there is no soap, or because there are no paper towels, every item they touch in the store becomes a potential transmission point. The lack of signage telling employees to wash their hands suggests the practice was not being reinforced even when the sinks were accessible.
The person in charge failing basic food safety questions at Bud's Supermarket is not a paperwork problem. It means the individual responsible for overseeing food safety operations on that day could not demonstrate knowledge of how foodborne illness spreads. That gap in knowledge is what the absence of a Certified Food Protection Manager looks like in practice.
The unlabeled individual packages of crackers and Oreos carry a separate risk: without ingredient and allergen information on the label, a customer with a food allergy has no way to make an informed decision before purchasing.
The Longer Record
The inspection data does not include a prior inspection count for this facility, so it is not possible to place March 2026 in the context of a longer violation history. What the record does show is that none of the 18 violations from this inspection were flagged as repeats, meaning inspectors did not identify these specific problems as having been cited and left unresolved from a previous visit.
That distinction matters less than it might at a facility with a documented pattern, but it does not make the findings less serious. A store operating without a valid permit, with a mold-fouled ice maker, blocked handwashing sinks, no thermometer, and a person in charge unable to answer basic food safety questions is a facility where the foundational systems are not functioning, regardless of whether they failed before.
Of the 18 violations documented on March 19, several were corrected on site. The stop-use orders on the ice maker, the three-compartment sink, and the handwashing sink remained in place at the close of the inspection, requiring a follow-up inspector visit for written release before those pieces of equipment could be returned to use.