ORLANDO, FL. An inspector visiting Catrina's Mexican Fusion at 925 N. Semoran Blvd. on September 25 found that the restaurant was serving food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means there is no way to trace what customers ate back to any regulated facility if someone gets sick.
That was one of ten high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The full list of high-severity citations reads like a checklist of the conditions most likely to put a customer in the hospital. Toxic chemicals were stored or labeled improperly near food areas. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items. Shell stock identification records were inadequate, meaning the shellfish on the menu could not be traced to a licensed harvester.
The inspector also cited improper hand and arm washing technique by employees, no written employee health policy, and no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff. A person in charge was either not present or not performing managerial duties at the time of the inspection.
Four intermediate violations accompanied the ten high-severity ones. Sewage or wastewater was being disposed of improperly. Single-use items were being reused. Ventilation and lighting were inadequate. Toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained.
The restaurant remained open after the inspection concluded.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When a restaurant purchases food outside the regulated supply chain, inspectors cannot verify that it passed USDA or FDA safety checks. If a customer gets sick, there is no harvest record, no distributor log, no way to trace the food back to its origin. That matters most with shellfish, which Catrina's was also cited for separately: without proper shell stock tags, oysters, clams, or mussels served at the restaurant cannot be linked to a licensed harvester if a norovirus or Vibrio outbreak occurs.
The allergen violation is acutely dangerous for a specific population. Food allergies affect an estimated 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send roughly 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, a customer with a tree nut, shellfish, or gluten allergy who asks about ingredients is relying on a guess.
The chemical storage violation compounds the food sourcing problem. Improperly stored or unlabeled toxic chemicals near food preparation areas create a contamination pathway that has nothing to do with bacteria or viruses. It is a direct route to acute poisoning.
The absence of a written employee health policy means that a worker who comes in sick, with norovirus symptoms or a gastrointestinal illness, faces no formal barrier to handling food. Norovirus accounts for an estimated 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary transmission route. A policy does not guarantee compliance, but the absence of one removes the only structural check.
The Longer Record
September 25 was not an anomaly. State records show Catrina's Mexican Fusion has been inspected 19 times and has accumulated 155 total violations across its inspection history.
The December 2025 inspection produced the same count: 10 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations, an identical result to the September 2026 visit. The April 2026 inspection found 5 high-severity violations. Two inspections in July 2026, conducted on consecutive days, found 6 high-severity violations on July 24 and 3 high-severity violations on July 25.
Catrina's Mexican Fusion: Inspection Pattern, 2024-2026
The restaurant's one prior emergency closure came on July 24, 2026, the day before a follow-up inspection, for roach and fly activity. That closure was resolved within 24 hours, as the July 25 inspection shows the facility had returned to a reduced violation count. But the September visit, two months later, brought the high-severity total back to its December 2025 peak.
The single clean inspection in this record was August 23, 2024, when inspectors documented zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. That visit stands alone in the history. Every other inspection on record found at least one high-severity violation, and the most recent five have found between three and ten.
On September 25, 2026, with ten high-severity violations documented including food from an unknown source, improperly stored chemicals, and no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff, Catrina's Mexican Fusion on North Semoran Boulevard was open for business.
