HAWTHORNE, FL. In April 2026, state inspectors walked into China House at 6005 SE US Hwy 301 and documented something that should have stopped anyone mid-bite: food from an unapproved or unknown source being served to customers, with no paper trail to follow if someone got sick.

That single violation was one of ten high-severity citations inspectors logged on April 16. The restaurant was not closed.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHFood from unapproved or unknown sourceNo traceability
2HIGHToxic chemicals improperly stored or labeledContamination risk
3HIGHToxic substances improperly identified/stored/usedToxic exposure
4HIGHNo employee health policyDisease transmission
5HIGHEmployee not reporting illness symptomsOutbreak risk
6HIGHFood contact surfaces not properly cleaned/sanitizedCross-contamination
7HIGHImproper hand and arm washing techniquePathogen transfer
8HIGHInadequate handwashing facilitiesHygiene failure
9HIGHTime as public health control not properly usedTemperature abuse
10HIGHNo consumer advisory for raw/undercooked foodsUninformed diners
11INTMulti-use utensils not properly cleanedBacterial biofilm
12INTInadequate ventilation and lightingAir quality

The chemical violations compound the food sourcing problem. Inspectors cited the restaurant twice over toxic substances: once for chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and again for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Those are two distinct failures involving dangerous materials in a kitchen environment.

The handwashing picture was similarly layered. Inspectors found that handwashing facilities were inadequate, and separately, that employees were using improper hand and arm washing technique. Having a sink is not the same as using it correctly, and the April inspection showed China House was failing on both counts.

The restaurant also lacked a written employee health policy and had employees who were not reporting illness symptoms. Inspectors additionally found that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, that time as a public health control was not being properly used, and that no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods. Two intermediate violations rounded out the tally: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.

What These Violations Mean

Food from an unapproved or unknown source is not a paperwork problem. It means that if a customer gets sick, health investigators have no supply chain to trace, no farm to contact, no distributor to pull from shelves. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli all travel through exactly this kind of gap, and without sourcing records, an outbreak at China House could go unsolved even as more people fell ill.

The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is what epidemiologists call an outbreak enabler. Norovirus, one of the most contagious foodborne pathogens, spreads overwhelmingly through sick food workers who continue preparing and handling food. A written policy and a culture of reporting are the first line of defense. China House had neither documented at the time of the April inspection.

The two chemical violations carry a different but immediate risk. Toxic cleaning agents or pest control substances stored near food, or mislabeled in a busy kitchen, can contaminate ingredients directly. In some cases the contamination is visible; in others it is not.

The improper use of time as a public health control means food was sitting in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, for stretches the restaurant was treating as safe without the documentation required to prove it. Bacterial growth in that range can double every 20 minutes. Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils then give those bacteria additional surfaces to colonize and transfer from.

The Longer Record

China House Inspection History, 2020-2026

April 202610 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations. Restaurant remained open.
August 202511 high-severity, 3 intermediate violations.
December 20249 high-severity, 4 intermediate violations.
July 20249 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.
March 20249 high-severity, 3 intermediate violations.
July 20236 high-severity, 3 intermediate violations.
August 2021Emergency closure for roach activity. Reopened the following day.
June 2020Emergency closure for rodent activity. Reopened same day.

The April 2026 inspection was the 34th on record for China House. Across those 34 inspections, the restaurant has accumulated 309 total violations. The state has emergency-closed it twice, once in June 2020 for rodent activity and once in August 2021 for roach activity.

The high-severity violation counts over the past two years have not moved in a meaningful direction. Nine high-severity violations in March 2024. Nine in July 2024. Nine in December 2024. Eleven in August 2025. Ten in April 2026. That is five consecutive inspections, spanning more than two years, each producing nine or more high-severity citations.

The categories have also repeated. Employee illness policies, handwashing, food contact surfaces, and chemical storage are not novel concerns at this address. They are the same categories appearing in inspection after inspection, with the same severity classification, across the same stretch of Alachua County highway.

Still Open

State inspectors left China House on April 16, 2026 with twelve violations documented, ten of them high-severity, including food from an unknown source and toxic chemicals improperly stored in a working kitchen.

The restaurant was not emergency-closed.