MIAMI, FL. A state inspector visiting China Mei at 17852 S. Dixie Highway on September 14 found that the restaurant was serving food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means no government agency had inspected that food for Listeria, Salmonella, or any other pathogen before it reached a customer's plate.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also documented that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures. For poultry, that threshold is 165 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at which Salmonella is destroyed. Below that temperature, the bacteria survive.
Employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, a violation that inspectors flag as a direct pathway to multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, one of the most contagious foodborne pathogens, spreads readily when a symptomatic food handler continues working.
Handwashing was also cited, but not simply for skipping it. The violation was for improper technique, meaning employees were washing their hands but not doing so in a way that removes pathogens. That distinction matters: a worker who believes they have washed their hands is more likely to touch food directly afterward.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep counters, and utensils that come into direct contact with what customers eat, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Toxic chemicals were stored or labeled improperly, creating a contamination risk that is separate from microbial illness entirely.
Three intermediate violations accompanied the six high-severity findings: single-use items being reused, wiping cloths used improperly, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and undercooking is particularly significant. When food arrives from an unknown or uninspected supplier, there is no traceability record. If a customer becomes ill, investigators cannot trace the food back through a supply chain to identify a contaminated batch or notify other buyers. The food simply entered the kitchen from somewhere, and no agency verified it was safe before it did.
Pair that with undercooking, and the risk compounds. An uninspected ingredient that also was not brought to a temperature sufficient to kill bacteria present in it goes directly to a customer's plate.
The illness-reporting violation at China Mei adds a third layer. An employee working through symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness, handling food with hands that were washed using flawed technique, on surfaces that were not properly sanitized, represents a chain of overlapping failures rather than isolated ones.
Improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals carry a different category of risk. Mislabeled cleaning chemicals stored near food preparation areas have caused acute poisoning incidents at food service establishments, sometimes without anyone in the kitchen recognizing the source of contamination until customers are already sick.
The Longer Record
The September 14 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show China Mei has been inspected 30 times and has accumulated 453 total violations across its history.
The most recent prior inspection, on April 7, 2026, produced 8 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. Before that, an inspection on December 2, 2025, generated 12 high-severity violations in a single visit, the highest single-inspection count in the recent record. A follow-up the next day, December 3, still produced 1 high-severity violation.
The April 2025 inspection logged 9 high-severity violations. The December 2024 inspection logged 10. The pattern across six inspections spanning two years shows high-severity violation counts of 12, 1, 8, 9, 10, and now 6, with the one-visit low of 1 occurring the day after a 12-violation inspection, suggesting a rapid correction followed by a return to prior conditions.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed, despite this record.
One inspection, on March 20, 2024, produced zero violations at either the high or intermediate level. Two inspections two days earlier, both on March 18, 2024, had produced 2 high-severity and 4 high-severity violations respectively. The clean inspection stands alone in the record.
The Pattern
Across the inspection history at China Mei, the violations are not random. Food sourcing, cooking temperatures, employee health practices, and surface sanitation appear repeatedly. These are not the kind of violations that result from a broken floor tile or a missing label on a container. They are operational practices, things that happen in a kitchen every hour of every service.
Thirty inspections. Four hundred and fifty-three violations. No emergency closures.
After the September 14 visit, with six high-severity violations on the books including food from an unknown source and undercooked food, China Mei remained open for business.
