MIAMI, FL. Inspectors walked into Caracas Bakery at 7283 Biscayne Blvd on June 3, 2026, and documented food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means some of what customers were eating that day had never passed through a USDA or FDA safety inspection.
That was one of nine high-severity violations cited that afternoon. The bakery was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is one of the most serious a bakery or food service operation can receive. When food arrives from unapproved or unknown sources, there is no paper trail, no federal inspection record, and no way to trace the product if customers become sick.
Alongside that, inspectors cited a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures. That violation applies to fish, pork, and wild game, and it means items that require specific freezing or cooking protocols to kill parasites like Anisakis or Trichinella were not handled correctly.
Food was also found not cooked to the required minimum temperature. Undercooking is among the leading direct causes of foodborne illness, and Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Two of the nine high-severity violations involved toxic chemicals: one for improper storage or labeling, and a second for improper identification, storage, or use of toxic substances. Both citations on the same inspection day indicate chemicals were present in conditions that created a contamination pathway to food.
The remaining high-severity violations covered employee illness reporting, the absence of any written employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, and no demonstrated allergen awareness. Four intermediate violations were also cited, including improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is the documented mechanism behind most large-scale foodborne outbreaks. Without a written policy, there is no framework requiring workers to disclose symptoms or stay home. Norovirus spreads through exactly this pathway, and a single infected food handler can expose dozens of customers before anyone connects the illnesses.
The improper handwashing technique citation compounds that risk. Even when employees attempt to wash their hands, incorrect technique leaves pathogens on the skin. At Caracas Bakery, inspectors found both the policy failure and the execution failure in the same visit.
The allergen violation carries its own acute danger. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, customers with serious allergies have no reliable way to assess whether a product is safe for them.
The sewage disposal violation is not a paperwork issue. Improper wastewater disposal creates a fecal contamination pathway through the facility, and raw sewage carries pathogens including E. coli, Hepatitis A, and Salmonella. Combined with utensils that were not properly cleaned, the conditions documented on June 3 touched nearly every stage of food handling.
The Longer Record
The June 3 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Caracas Bakery has been inspected 13 times and has accumulated 108 total violations across those visits.
The pattern of high-severity citations is consistent and recent. The September 2025 inspection produced 8 high-severity violations. The March 2026 inspection produced 4 high-severity violations. The November 2025 inspection also produced 4 high-severity violations. June 2026 brought the highest single-visit high-severity count on record at this location: 9.
The bakery has never been emergency-closed. Two inspections, in September 2024 and March 2024, resulted in zero high-severity violations, suggesting the facility is capable of meeting standards. But those clean visits have not held. The trajectory from September 2025 through June 2026 shows a facility moving in the wrong direction, with the violation count climbing at each of the last three inspections.
Still Open
State inspectors cited 9 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations at Caracas Bakery on June 3, 2026. They documented food from an unknown source, improperly cooked food, chemicals stored near food, no system for keeping sick workers out of the kitchen, and sewage handled incorrectly.
The bakery remained open.