MIAMI, FL. Back in January 2026, a state inspector walked into Cafe Mayi on a routine visit and found something that immediately changed the paperwork: the convenience store was cooking raw eggs and beef without a permit that authorized it to do so.
The inspector's notes were direct. "This food establishment was found to be operating beyond the scope of their food permit," the report states, citing a standard convenience store license that does not cover raw protein cookery. The permit was reclassified on the spot from a limited food service operation to a significant food service establishment, and the store was told to pay the difference in permit fees within ten days.
That was only the beginning of a twelve-violation inspection report.
What Inspectors Found
The blocked handwashing sink was a recurring thread through the inspection. An inspector found a metal tray sitting inside the hand sink next to the ware wash area. A food employee removed it during the inspection, which counts as corrected on site, but the fact that it was blocked at all points to a gap in daily practice.
The ware wash sink carried a more structural problem. The inspector noted it was "directly connected to the sewage system" with no air gap or air break between the drain and the sewer line. That violation was not corrected on site.
A package of frozen meat was found thawing on the counter at room temperature beneath the steam table. The inspector had it moved to a cold holding unit to finish thawing under refrigeration.
No probe thermometer existed anywhere in the establishment, according to the report. With the store now cooking raw eggs and beef, that absence is not a minor paperwork gap.
A Knowledge Problem at the Top
Several of the twelve violations pointed not just to individual lapses but to a broader failure of food safety oversight at the management level.
The inspector cited the person in charge for failing to demonstrate knowledge of the Food Code, specifically because of the priority violations found during the visit, the absence of a certified food manager, and an inability to answer basic food safety questions correctly.
There was no employee health policy in the building. No written procedures existed for handling vomiting or diarrheal events. And no one had formally informed food employees of their legal obligation to report illnesses that can spread through food, a step the state requires to be verifiable.
The inspector provided copies of the employee health guidelines and the reporting agreement by e-mail during the visit.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of a certified food protection manager matters most when a store has crossed into cooking raw animal proteins, which Cafe Mayi had done without the proper permit. A certified manager is trained to recognize the temperature thresholds, cross-contamination risks, and illness reporting requirements that keep raw meat cookery from becoming a public health event. Without one, those decisions fall to whoever happens to be on shift.
The lack of a probe thermometer compounds that risk directly. When a store is cooking raw beef and eggs, the only way to verify that food has reached a safe internal temperature is to measure it. Guessing is not a substitute.
The sewage connection at the ware wash sink is a contamination pathway, not a cleanliness issue. When a drain has no air gap between it and the sewer line, a pressure reversal can pull sewage back into the sink area. It is the kind of structural violation that does not resolve with a mop.
The blocked handwashing sink and the absence of an employee illness reporting policy connect to the same risk. If employees cannot wash their hands easily, or do not know they are required to stay home when sick with a foodborne illness, the store's food handling becomes a transmission route for pathogens like norovirus and Salmonella.
The Longer Record
The January 2026 inspection was only the second FDACS inspection on record at this location. The first, conducted in March 2023, found four violations and also met inspection requirements at the time.
That prior inspection showed a facility that passed with a modest violation count. The jump to twelve violations in January 2026, combined with the discovery that the store had been cooking raw proteins under the wrong permit classification, suggests the operation had grown in scope between those two visits without the regulatory or procedural infrastructure to match.
None of the twelve violations from January 2026 were classified as repeats from the 2023 inspection, but several, including the absence of food safety management training and the lack of a certified manager, reflect the same underlying gap: a food operation that had outpaced its own practices.
The ware wash sink's direct connection to the sewage system was still unresolved when the inspector left.