MIAMI, FL. In April 2026, a state inspector walked into Casavana Cuban Cuisine at 13600 SW 152 Street and documented 11 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. The restaurant was not closed.

Among the most alarming findings: food from unapproved or unknown sources was being used in the kitchen. That single violation means ingredients served to customers had bypassed federal safety inspection entirely, with no way to trace them back to a licensed supplier if someone got sick.

The inspector also found no employee health policy in place, and separately cited employees for not reporting illness symptoms. Those two violations exist in the same facility at the same time, meaning workers had no formal obligation to disclose illness and no apparent system requiring them to.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHFood from unapproved sourceNo federal inspection trail
2HIGHNo employee illness policySick workers not required to disclose
3HIGHToxic chemicals mishandledImproper storage and labeling
4HIGHShellfish traceability failureNo shell stock ID or records
5HIGHFood contact surfaces unsanitaryCross-contamination risk
6HIGHNo consumer advisory for raw foodsVulnerable diners not warned

The inspector cited improper handwashing technique, a violation that goes beyond whether workers washed their hands at all. Even when an attempt was made, the method was wrong.

Toxic chemicals were cited under two separate violations: improper storage and labeling, and improper identification and use. Both flags in the same inspection, in the same facility, signal that hazardous substances were not treated as hazardous.

Shellfish traceability records were missing or inadequate. Oysters, clams, and mussels are often eaten raw or lightly cooked. Without proper shell stock tags and records, there is no way to identify the harvest source if a customer develops a foodborne illness linked to those products.

The inspector also flagged that time was not being used properly as a public health control, that food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and that there was no consumer advisory on the menu for raw or undercooked foods. On the intermediate side, sewage and wastewater disposal was flagged as improper, multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, and ventilation and lighting were inadequate.

The person in charge was either absent or not performing their duties during the inspection.

What These Violations Mean

The combination of no employee illness policy and employees not reporting symptoms is not a paperwork problem. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads rapidly when infected food workers handle ready-to-eat food. A written illness policy is the mechanism that creates a legal and operational obligation for sick employees to stay out of the kitchen. Without one at Casavana, that obligation did not exist on April 15.

Food from unapproved sources carries a specific danger: traceability. When a USDA or FDA-inspected supplier is the source of a contaminated ingredient, investigators can identify the product, issue a recall, and trace how many customers were exposed. When the source is unknown or unapproved, that chain breaks entirely. If a customer got sick after eating at Casavana in April, there would be no supplier record to pull.

The shellfish violation compounds that risk. Shellfish harvested from contaminated waters and consumed raw are a well-documented vector for hepatitis A and Vibrio infections. Shell stock identification tags exist precisely to enable rapid trace-back. Their absence at Casavana means a sick customer, and an investigator, would have no starting point.

Improperly stored toxic chemicals near food present a different category of risk, one that is immediate rather than cumulative. Mislabeled or mishandled cleaning compounds can contaminate food directly, and the resulting illness can be acute.

The Longer Record

Casavana Cuban Cuisine: Inspection Pattern, 2024-2026

April 15, 202611 high-severity violations, 3 intermediate. Facility remained open.
April 20, 2026Follow-up: 4 high, 3 intermediate violations still documented.
October 20, 20257 high, 2 intermediate violations.
February 26, 20259 high, 3 intermediate violations.
September 9, 202410 high violations documented on a single visit.
March 20, 20249 high, 1 intermediate violations.

The April 2026 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Casavana has accumulated 374 total violations across 26 inspections on record. In September 2024, inspectors visited the restaurant twice in a single day; one of those visits produced 10 high-severity violations.

The pattern holds across nearly every inspection in the available history. The February 2025 visits, conducted two days apart, produced 9 high-severity violations on February 26 and 2 high-severity violations on February 28, suggesting a rapid but incomplete correction. By October 2025, the count was back to 7 high-severity violations.

Notably, the follow-up inspection conducted five days after the April 15 visit, on April 20, 2026, still found 4 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. Despite 26 inspections and 374 documented violations, Casavana has never been emergency-closed.

Still Open

State records show no emergency closure has ever been issued for Casavana Cuban Cuisine. After an inspection that documented food from unapproved sources, no employee illness policy, employees not reporting symptoms, improperly stored toxic chemicals, missing shellfish traceability records, and a person in charge who was absent or not doing their job, the restaurant on SW 152 Street remained open for business.