ORLANDO, FL. On July 24, a state inspector walked into Catrina's Mexican Fusion on North Semoran Boulevard and documented food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and toxic chemicals stored improperly near food. The restaurant collected six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations in a single visit. It was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation is among the most serious on the list. When a restaurant cannot document where its food came from, there is no supply chain record to trace if customers fall ill. If a contaminated batch of chicken or produce reaches the kitchen through an uninspected supplier, there is no paper trail to pull it back.
Food not cooked to required minimum temperatures compounds that risk directly. Pathogens that survive undercooking, including Salmonella in poultry, require sustained heat to be killed. A dish that reaches the table without hitting the required internal temperature can carry a live bacterial load.
The toxic chemical violations add a separate category of danger. Two distinct high-severity citations addressed chemicals, one for improper storage or labeling and one for improper identification, storage, or use. Chemicals stored near food or in unlabeled containers create a direct route to acute poisoning if they contaminate a surface, ingredient, or finished plate.
Inspectors also cited food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that carry residue from one food to the next become transfer points for whatever bacteria were on the prior ingredient.
The handwashing violation rounds out the picture. An employee who attempts to wash their hands but uses improper technique, skipping steps or insufficient duration, leaves pathogens on their hands and carries them to the next surface they touch.
What These Violations Mean
Taken individually, any one of these six high-severity violations would draw scrutiny. Together, they describe a kitchen with multiple simultaneous failure points on July 24.
The unapproved food source violation means that some ingredient served to customers that day could not be traced to a USDA or FDA-inspected supplier. If anyone who ate at Catrina's on or around that date develops symptoms consistent with Listeria or Salmonella, investigators would have no documented supply chain to examine.
The undercooking violation means the kill step that eliminates pathogens in raw proteins was not reliably happening. Salmonella survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit in poultry. A customer who ordered a chicken dish and received one that had not reached temperature was exposed to that survival risk.
Two separate chemical violations on the same inspection day indicate that the problem was not a single misplaced bottle. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate food through direct contact, vapor, or mislabeled application. The consequences range from gastrointestinal illness to acute toxic exposure.
Reusing single-use items, the intermediate violation, adds another contamination pathway. Items designed for a single use, including gloves, cups, and foil, are not constructed to withstand repeated cleaning. Reuse introduces cross-contamination even when the intent is to keep things clean.
The Longer Record
July 24 was not an outlier for Catrina's. State records show 18 inspections on file, 129 total violations across those visits, and one prior emergency closure.
That prior closure was also on July 24, 2026, the same date as this inspection. Records show inspectors cited roach and fly activity as the basis for that closure order. The restaurant was not closed again after the same day's inspection that produced six high-severity violations.
The inspection history shows a facility that has cycled through serious violation counts repeatedly. The December 2025 inspection produced 10 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate ones. The April 2026 inspection produced 5 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate ones. The only inspection in the prior two-year window that produced zero high-severity violations was August 23, 2024, a single visit sandwiched between two inspections that each found four high-severity violations.
The Pattern
The day after the July 24 inspection, on July 25, inspectors returned and found 3 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate violation still present. The restaurant remained open after that visit as well.
Across eight prior inspections with documented violation counts, Catrina's has not had a single stretch of consecutive clean visits. High-severity violations appeared in seven of those eight inspections. The categories have rotated but the volume has not dropped.
On the afternoon of July 24, 2026, customers eating at Catrina's Mexican Fusion on North Semoran Boulevard were being served food whose origin could not be verified, cooked in a kitchen where surfaces were not properly sanitized, by staff whose handwashing technique inspectors found inadequate. The restaurant was not closed.
