ORLANDO, FL. Inspectors visiting Chabuca on Butler National Drive on July 29 found that the restaurant had not followed parasite destruction procedures for fish or other proteins, a failure that leaves customers exposed to live Anisakis, tapeworm, and Trichinella, depending on what they ordered. That violation was one of six high-severity citations issued that day. The restaurant was not closed.
The July 29 inspection produced 11 violations in total, six of them high-severity and five intermediate. That combination, by Florida standards, represents a significant food safety breakdown at a single facility on a single day.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction failure was not the only acute risk documented. Inspectors cited Chabuca twice for chemical violations, once for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and again for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two separate citations for chemical hazards at the same inspection, in the same facility, on the same day is an unusual finding.
The inspector also found that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and similar equipment that carry bacteria from one food item to the next represent one of the most direct contamination routes in any commercial kitchen.
Employees were documented using improper handwashing technique. That citation means workers attempted to wash their hands but did so incorrectly, leaving pathogens on their skin before returning to food preparation.
The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and anyone with a compromised immune system, had no way of knowing they were ordering items that carried elevated risk.
On the intermediate level, inspectors found improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and equipment in poor repair. Each of those findings compounds the high-severity violations already on the list.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction citation is worth understanding precisely. When restaurants serve fish, pork, or wild game, state code requires specific freezing protocols or cooking temperatures to kill parasites before the food reaches a customer. If those steps are skipped, live Anisakis larvae in fish or Trichinella in pork can be ingested. Anisakis causes severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and in some cases requires surgical removal. Trichinella can cause fever, muscle pain, and in serious cases, cardiac or neurological complications.
The two chemical violations carry a different but equally immediate risk. Chemicals stored near food, or chemicals that are mislabeled or improperly used, can contaminate food directly. The result is acute chemical poisoning, not the delayed illness associated with bacterial contamination. Customers would have no way of knowing a dish had been affected.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils that have not been sanitized create bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning and can transfer Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria to every item prepared on or with that equipment.
The sewage disposal violation is the most immediately alarming of the intermediate citations. Improper wastewater handling introduces fecal contamination risk throughout the facility, affecting surfaces, food, and the hands of anyone working in the space.
The Longer Record
The July 29 inspection is not an outlier. Chabuca has 16 inspections on record and 224 total violations documented across that history.
The most severe prior inspection came on July 22, 2025, when inspectors cited the restaurant for 8 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate, followed the next day by a callback inspection that still produced 2 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed despite that accumulation.
The January 6, 2026 inspection, the most recent before July 29, produced 6 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate, an almost identical severity profile to this month's findings. Six months passed between those two inspections, and the violation count did not meaningfully change.
The August 2024 inspections followed the same pattern. On August 29, 2024, inspectors found 9 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate. The next day, a callback inspection still produced 5 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate. A facility that generates 9 high-severity violations and cannot clear them fully in a single day is a facility with systemic, not incidental, compliance problems.
Still Open
Chabuca has now been cited for 6 or more high-severity violations in at least three separate inspections spanning two calendar years. It has accumulated 224 violations across 16 inspections. It has never been emergency-closed.
As of the July 29 inspection, the restaurant remained open for business.
