PALM BAY, FL. Inspectors visiting Carrabba's Italian Grill on Palm Bay Road on June 26 found that the restaurant had no proper procedures in place to destroy parasites in fish and other proteins, a violation that means customers may have been served seafood harboring live Anisakis worms or tapeworm larvae without any kill step applied.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction violation is particularly significant at an Italian grill, where fish dishes are a menu staple. State food code requires that fish served raw or undercooked be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations before service, a process designed to kill Anisakis and tapeworm larvae. When that process is not followed and documented, there is no verified kill step between the fish and the customer's plate.
The restaurant also had no written employee health policy, meaning there was no documented system to prevent sick workers from handling food. Inspectors additionally found that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that touch food directly, were not being properly cleaned and sanitized. That creates a direct pathway for bacteria to move from surface to food to customer.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. Chemicals stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food through spills, mislabeling, or cross-contact, and the consequences can be acute rather than gradual.
Two intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: inadequate cooling and cold holding equipment, and single-use items being reused. Both compound the temperature and contamination risks already documented in the high-severity findings.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is not a paperwork problem. Anisakis, a roundworm found in raw or undercooked fish, can cause severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and in some cases requires surgical removal. Trichinella, the parasite associated with undercooked pork, causes muscle inflammation and fever. When a restaurant cannot demonstrate that its freezing or cooking protocols meet state-required kill standards, customers eating fish or pork dishes have no verified protection.
The absence of an employee health policy means the restaurant had no formal mechanism to keep sick workers out of the kitchen. Norovirus, one of the most common foodborne illness agents in the United States, spreads through exactly this route: an infected food handler who continues working because no policy requires them to report symptoms or stay home.
Improper handwashing technique compounds that risk directly. A worker who attempts to wash their hands but uses incorrect technique, insufficient time, wrong temperature, or skips steps, can transfer pathogens to food even though a handwashing attempt was made. Combined with no health policy, the chain of transmission from a sick employee to a customer's plate is essentially uninterrupted.
The inadequate cooling equipment violation adds a temperature dimension. When cold-holding equipment cannot maintain food at or below 41 degrees Fahrenheit, food enters what regulators call the danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, where bacteria like Salmonella and Staph aureus multiply rapidly. This is not a theoretical concern at a restaurant that also failed to properly use time as a public health control, a backup method intended to limit how long food sits in that danger zone.
The Longer Record
The June 26 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Carrabba's on Palm Bay Road has been inspected 32 times and has accumulated 300 total violations across its history.
The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent and recent. In December 2025, inspectors documented nine high-severity and four intermediate violations. In July 2025, six high-severity and four intermediate violations. In September 2024, a single inspection produced seven high-severity and three intermediate violations, a count matching the June 2026 inspection exactly.
Only one inspection in the recent record came back clean on high-severity findings: April 3, 2025, which showed zero high-severity violations and one intermediate. That inspection was followed two days later, on April 1, by a separate visit that found three high-severity violations, suggesting the April 3 result was not representative of the facility's operating baseline.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. Every inspection that found five, six, seven, or nine high-severity violations ended with the facility remaining open and serving customers.
Open for Business
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when inspectors determine a facility poses an immediate threat to public health. The June 26 inspection at Carrabba's on Palm Bay Road documented seven conditions that state code classifies as high-severity, including a failure to destroy parasites in fish, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and no system to keep sick employees from handling food.
The restaurant remained open.
