SUNRISE, FL. Back in December 2025, a state food safety inspector walked into a Chevron convenience store on a routine operating-without-a-permit check and found subs, lunchables, salami-cheese snacks, sliders and deli sandwiches sitting in an open cooler at temperatures between 49°F and 50°F, nine degrees above the legal cold-holding limit.
Every one of those items was voluntarily discarded on the spot.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services issued a Stop Sale and Release order during the visit. The store, a convenience outlet selling prepackaged food in Broward County's Sunrise, had been selling refrigerated ready-to-eat food without a valid food permit on file.
What Inspectors Found
The temperature violations were the most urgent finding. The inspector used an accurate probe thermometer and documented multiple items by name: subs at 50°F, lunchables at 49°F, salami-cheese snacks at 50°F, and sliders and deli sandwiches at 50°F. These were in an open cooler in the retail area, accessible to customers.
The store was also selling Capri Sun juice pouches from a beverage reach-in cooler that were not labeled for individual sale, a labeling violation inspectors noted and corrected during the visit by removing the juices from the cooler.
Beverages were found stored directly on the floor in two separate locations, the retail area and the backroom. The restroom in the retail area had no handwashing sign posted. Neither of those violations was corrected on site.
No Permit, No Plan
The most foundational problem documented that day was the permit itself. The store was operating without a valid food permit, a violation of Florida Statute 500.12. The inspector noted that an application had been submitted, but the permit was not in place at the time of the inspection.
The store also had no written procedures for employees to follow in the event of a vomiting or diarrheal incident. The inspector provided guidance materials for Norovirus cleanup and disinfection during the visit.
What These Violations Mean
The cold-holding failure is the most direct public health concern from this inspection. Cold-held foods that contain meat, dairy or eggs are required to stay at 41°F or below because bacterial growth accelerates sharply above that temperature. Subs, lunchables and deli sandwiches sitting at 50°F are in a range where pathogens including Salmonella and Listeria can multiply. Customers buying those items before the inspector arrived had no way of knowing the cooler was not maintaining safe temperatures.
The operating-without-a-permit violation matters beyond the paperwork. A valid food permit means the state has verified that a facility meets baseline sanitation requirements before it sells food to the public. Selling refrigerated ready-to-eat food without that authorization means no state verification had occurred before customers were purchasing items from that open cooler.
The missing vomit and diarrheal event procedures may seem administrative, but the absence of a written plan has real consequences. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads rapidly when contaminated surfaces are not properly disinfected. Convenience stores handle high customer foot traffic, and employees without a written protocol are more likely to clean up an incident inadequately, spreading contamination to surfaces and products.
The unlabeled Capri Sun pouches fall under a different concern: traceability. Products not labeled for individual sale cannot be traced back to a specific lot or source if a contamination issue arises after a customer has purchased and consumed one.
The Longer Record
The December 2025 inspection was not this store's first encounter with state food safety oversight. Records show the Chevron location has accumulated 20 inspections on record and 80 total violations, with no emergency closures documented.
Eighty violations across 20 inspections works out to an average of four violations per visit. That is not a facility with isolated compliance gaps. It is a facility with a consistent pattern of findings spread across a significant inspection history.
None of the six violations cited in December were marked as repeats, meaning the inspector did not flag them as problems that had appeared in a prior inspection of this location. That is a technical distinction. It does not mean the facility has had a clean record between visits. Eighty cumulative violations across two decades of inspections suggest a location that has required repeated correction across a range of issues.
Zero violations were corrected on site during the December inspection, with the exception of the discarded food and the removed Capri Sun juices, both of which were addressed because they were the subject of enforcement action. The handwashing sign, the beverages on the floor and the missing emergency procedures remained unresolved when the inspector left.
The store had submitted a permit application by the time of the inspection. Whether that permit had been issued before the December visit, or remained pending, the record does not specify.
