TAMPA, FL. Inspectors who walked into Burger 21 on North Dale Mabry Highway on September 29 found a restaurant operating without an approved potable water supply, a violation that means every surface washed, every hand rinsed, and every food item prepared with water that day could have carried E. coli, Cryptosporidium, or Legionella. The restaurant was not closed.
That single violation would have been enough to shutter many Florida establishments. It was one of seven high-severity citations issued that day at the Carrollwood location, alongside five intermediate violations, for a total of twelve.
What Inspectors Found
The water violation did not stand alone. Inspectors also cited the restaurant twice for chemical hazards: toxic substances were both improperly stored or labeled and improperly identified or used. Those are two distinct citations, meaning chemicals were present near food in ways that created immediate contamination risk, and the labeling or handling failures compounded that danger.
Food temperature was another high-severity finding. Items were not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a direct pathway for Salmonella and other pathogens to survive and reach a customer's plate. At a burger restaurant, where ground beef and poultry are the core product, an undercooked-food violation is not an administrative technicality.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique. This is a different citation from simply skipping handwashing: it means employees were making an attempt to wash their hands but doing it in a way that leaves pathogens in place. The distinction matters because it reflects a training failure, not just a momentary lapse.
The remaining high-severity citation covered food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Without that advisory posted, customers with compromised immune systems, elderly diners, pregnant women, and children had no way to know they were being served food that carried elevated risk.
On the intermediate side, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, improper waste disposal, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The potable water violation is among the most acute risks an inspector can document in a food service setting. Water that has not been approved as potable can carry E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Legionella. At a restaurant, that water touches everything: the hands of employees after washing, the surfaces wiped down between orders, the ice, the produce. A single contaminated water source is not a localized problem.
The dual chemical citations compound the picture. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food create a poisoning pathway that does not require a dramatic spill. A mislabeled container used by an employee who does not know what is inside it is enough. Two separate chemical violations on the same inspection day suggests the problem extended across more than one area of the kitchen.
The sewage violation, classified as intermediate, carries its own weight. Improper sewage or wastewater disposal creates fecal contamination risk throughout a facility. Combined with the water supply violation on the same inspection, the records describe a restaurant where both the incoming water and the outgoing waste were being handled outside of safe parameters on the same day.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours, according to state health risk data. Those biofilms resist standard sanitizing. At Burger 21 Carrollwood on September 29, the utensils, the surfaces, the water, and the cooking temperatures were all cited in the same inspection.
The Longer Record
Burger 21 Carrollwood: Inspection Pattern, 2023-2026
The September 29 inspection is not an outlier in this restaurant's record. Across 25 inspections on file, Burger 21 Carrollwood has accumulated 156 total violations. High-severity citations have appeared in six of the eight most recent inspections with recorded results.
The pattern is consistent. High-severity violations appeared in September 2023, February 2024, September 2025, March 2026, and again in September 2026. The April 2026 inspection showed zero high or intermediate violations, a clean result that preceded the worst inspection in the facility's documented history by five months.
The follow-up inspection conducted September 30, the day after the twelve-violation visit, found four high-severity and two intermediate violations still present. That means after inspectors left and the restaurant had a night to correct the findings, nearly half of the high-severity problems remained.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. After a September 29 inspection that documented no safe water supply, two chemical hazards, undercooked food, and improper sewage disposal, it remained open to customers that day, and the day after.
