CORAL SPRINGS, FL. Inspectors visiting China Spring III on Wiles Road on October 8 found that the restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures for fish, meaning customers could have been served seafood carrying live Anisakis worms or tapeworm larvae without any of the freezing or cooking steps required to kill them.
That was one of eight high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction failure was not the only violation tied directly to what customers were eating. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning there was no reliable documentation to trace where oysters, clams, or mussels served to customers had come from. If a shellfish-linked illness occurred, there would be no paper trail to identify the source.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that touch food before it reaches a plate, were not being properly cleaned or sanitized.
The restaurant was also cited for misusing time as a public health control. When a kitchen uses time rather than temperature to manage food safety, it means food is permitted to sit in the bacterial growth zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, for a defined window before it must be discarded. Inspectors found that protocol was not being followed correctly, meaning food may have remained in that window beyond any safe limit without being tracked or discarded.
No person in charge was present or performing duties at the time of the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is among the most direct risks documented in this inspection. Fish served raw or lightly cooked, including sushi-style preparations, can carry Anisakis roundworms or tapeworm larvae. Proper freezing at specific temperatures for specific durations kills those organisms before they reach a customer. Without that step, a diner has no protection. China Spring III did not have documentation showing that step was completed.
The shellfish traceability failure compounds that risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water. Shellfish harvested from contaminated beds have caused mass norovirus and Vibrio outbreaks. The shell stock tag requirement exists so that, when someone gets sick, investigators can identify the harvest location and pull product from other restaurants before more people are harmed. Without those records at China Spring III, that chain breaks entirely.
The illness reporting failure is a separate category of danger. Food workers who do not report symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice can transmit norovirus and hepatitis A directly to food during preparation. A single symptomatic worker handling food without reporting illness is the most common single-point cause of multi-victim outbreaks documented by the CDC.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, combined with improper handwashing technique, means that even when employees attempted to wash their hands, pathogens may have remained. Studies show that improper technique, skipping steps, using cold water, or washing for insufficient time, leaves contamination levels nearly as high as no washing at all.
The Longer Record
October 8 was not an unusual day at China Spring III. It was a continuation of a pattern running back years.
The restaurant has 27 inspections on record and 255 total violations. It was emergency-closed on the same date as this inspection, October 8, 2026, for roach and rodent activity, and passed a follow-up inspection the next day. That closure is the facility's first on record.
The inspection history tells a cyclical story. On June 4, 2025, inspectors documented 8 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations. On October 14, 2025, the count was 9 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. On March 17, 2026, it was 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. Each of those inspections was followed by a clean follow-up, and then the serious violations returned.
The violations are not random. High-severity citations for management failures, food handling, and food sourcing have appeared repeatedly across multiple inspection cycles at this address. The October 8 inspection, with 8 high-severity violations including parasite destruction and shellfish traceability failures, fits the same profile as the three comparable inspections in the fourteen months before it.
Open for Business
The emergency closure on October 8 was triggered by roach and rodent activity, not by the eight high-severity food safety violations documented the same day. The restaurant passed its follow-up inspection on October 9 and reopened.
The parasite destruction failures, the missing shellfish records, the improperly stored chemicals, the uncleaned food contact surfaces, and the absent person in charge were all documented on October 8. The restaurant served customers through all of it.
