TAMPA, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food, shellfish on the menu had no traceability records, and food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, according to a state inspection of China Wok at 8412 N Armenia Ave conducted on April 28, 2026. Inspectors documented six high-severity violations. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The chemical storage violation is among the most acute hazards inspectors can document. Cleaning agents and other toxic compounds stored in proximity to food or food prep surfaces can contaminate dishes directly, with no cooking step to neutralize the exposure.
The shellfish finding is a different kind of danger. State records show inspectors cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning there was no documentation to establish where the oysters, clams, or mussels on the menu came from. Shellfish are frequently consumed raw or only lightly cooked, and without harvest records, investigators cannot trace an outbreak back to a contaminated source bed.
Food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep tables, were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. Those surfaces are a direct transfer point for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat food. Inspectors also found that employees were not washing their hands with proper technique, a violation that means pathogens can survive on hands even after a worker makes an attempt to wash.
The restaurant had no written employee health policy, which means there is no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to stay home or report symptoms to a manager. Inspectors also cited the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, a required notice that alerts elderly diners, pregnant women, and anyone with a compromised immune system that certain menu items carry elevated risk.
The one intermediate violation involved multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique is particularly direct in its implications. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads through exactly this pathway: a sick worker, no policy requiring them to stay home, and a handwashing procedure that leaves contamination on the hands. China Wok had both conditions present on the same inspection.
The shellfish traceability failure matters most when something goes wrong. If a customer becomes ill after eating shellfish at the restaurant, investigators would have no harvest tags or supplier records to consult. That means no way to identify a contaminated lot, no ability to issue a broader public warning, and no path to pulling the same product from other restaurants.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils compound those risks. Bacterial biofilms can develop on utensils within 24 hours of inadequate cleaning. Once established, those biofilms are resistant to standard sanitizing and become a persistent source of contamination across every dish that surface or utensil touches.
The missing consumer advisory is a violation that targets the most vulnerable diners specifically. Without the required menu notice, a customer receiving chemotherapy, an elderly diner, or a pregnant woman has no way of knowing that a dish they are ordering may contain raw or undercooked shellfish or protein.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection did not represent a new low for China Wok. It fit a pattern that state records have been documenting for years.
The facility has 30 inspections on record and 357 total violations. Eight of the most recent nine inspections, stretching from February 2023 through October 2025, each produced between five and ten high-severity violations. The February 2023 inspection alone produced ten high-severity citations and six intermediate ones.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in January 2016, after inspectors found roach activity. It reopened the following day. In the decade since that closure, high-severity violations have continued to accumulate at nearly every inspection, in overlapping categories that include food safety practices and sanitation.
The Pattern
Six consecutive inspections before April 2026 each produced at least five high-severity violations. The August 2024 inspection produced nine high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. The following inspection, in March 2025, produced eight high-severity violations. Then five in October 2025.
The April 2026 inspection produced six.
State inspectors visited, documented the violations, and left. China Wok on N Armenia Ave remained open.