ORANGE CITY, FL. Inspectors visiting CiCi's Pizza 194 on South Volusia Avenue on May 12 found that employees were not reporting illness symptoms before handling food, a violation that state health records flag as the leading cause of multi-victim foodborne illness outbreaks. That was one of eight high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
Every one of the eight violations documented on May 12 was classified as high severity. None were intermediate, none were basic.
The illness-reporting failure is the violation that most directly connects to large-scale outbreaks. When an infected employee handles food without disclosing symptoms, norovirus and other pathogens can reach dozens of customers before anyone realizes there is a problem. At a buffet-style restaurant where one worker handles food that cycles continuously to hundreds of plates, that exposure window is wide.
The handwashing violations compound that risk. Inspectors cited both a failure to wash hands adequately and a failure to use proper technique, meaning that even when employees made an attempt to wash, the method left pathogens on their hands. Those two citations together describe a kitchen where contamination from person to food was not being interrupted at any reliable point.
Food contact surfaces were also found not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that carry residue from one food to the next are among the most documented vehicles for bacterial transfer in commercial kitchens.
Inspectors also found that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a pizza buffet where chicken toppings rotate through the line, an undercooking violation is not a paperwork problem.
The remaining three violations involved parasite destruction procedures, the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, and a failure to follow required procedures for specialized food processes. Each carries its own exposure pathway, and all eight landed on the same inspection report.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting violation is treated by state and federal food safety authorities as a category-one outbreak risk because the transmission chain is direct and fast. A worker with norovirus who preps food on a buffet line can expose every customer who visits during that shift. The advisory requirement exists precisely because that chain is so difficult to break once it starts.
The two handwashing violations, taken together, describe something more systemic than a single lapse. Inadequate handwashing means employees are skipping the step. Improper technique means that even when the step is taken, it is not working. Both were present on the same inspection day at CiCi's Pizza 194.
The undercooked food citation is a direct Salmonella and E. coli risk. The parasite destruction citation means that required freezing or cooking protocols for certain fish, pork, or other proteins were not followed, leaving parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella potentially viable in food served to customers. The missing consumer advisory means customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised had no warning that any of this applied to what they were eating.
The Longer Record
The May 12 inspection was not the first time this location has drawn serious scrutiny. State records show 30 inspections on file for CiCi's Pizza 194, with 261 total violations documented across that history.
The facility was emergency-closed on July 17, 2024, after inspectors found roach activity. It was allowed to reopen two days later. Less than two months after that closure, on September 16, 2024, inspectors returned and found three more high-severity violations.
The pattern in the most recent months is particularly striking. On November 3, 2025, inspectors found four high-severity and four intermediate violations. Two days later, on November 5, a follow-up visit still turned up one high-severity violation. The location then cleared two consecutive inspections in early 2026, with zero high-severity findings on March 2 and January 14. That stretch of clean reports makes the April 27, 2026 inspection, which produced five high-severity violations, and then the May 12 inspection, which produced eight, more notable, not less.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that continued operation presents an immediate public health threat. The threshold is a judgment call made in the field.
On May 12, 2026, an inspector at CiCi's Pizza 194 in Orange City documented employees not reporting illness, food cooked below safe temperatures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and failed parasite destruction procedures, among five other high-severity findings.
The restaurant remained open.