DUNEDIN, FL. State inspectors visited Clear Draught Haus on Main Street on September 16 and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means some of what was served to customers that day had bypassed every federal safety inspection designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens before they reach a plate.
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The September 16 inspection produced six high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. Beyond the unapproved food sourcing, inspectors cited the restaurant for serving food that had not been cooked to the required minimum temperature. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and undercooking is among the leading documented causes of foodborne illness outbreaks nationwide.
Inspectors also found inadequate shell stock identification records. Clear Draught Haus serves shellfish, which are consumed raw or lightly cooked and carry an elevated baseline risk. Without proper tagging and documentation, there is no way to trace a specific batch of oysters or clams back to its harvest waters if a customer becomes ill.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. That notice is the only warning customers with weakened immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, or young children have before ordering something that carries an elevated risk.
The remaining high-severity violations involved employee health and hygiene. The facility had no written employee health policy, meaning there was no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to stay out of the kitchen. Inspectors also cited improper hand and arm washing technique, a distinction that matters: an employee can go through the motions of handwashing and still leave dangerous pathogens on their hands if the technique is wrong.
On the intermediate side, inspectors found improper sewage or wastewater disposal, improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, and wiping cloths used incorrectly. Improperly cleaned utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours, films that resist standard sanitizers and can transfer bacteria to every plate they touch.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and inadequate shellfish records is particularly significant. When food enters a restaurant through an unapproved supplier, it has not been inspected at the federal level. If a customer gets sick, investigators tracing the source hit a dead end. The shellfish traceability violation compounds that problem: shellfish harvested from contaminated waters and served without proper documentation cannot be recalled or traced after the fact.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw and undercooked items is not a paperwork technicality. Customers who are immunocompromised, pregnant, elderly, or very young face a materially higher risk from undercooked proteins and raw shellfish. Without a posted advisory, they have no way to make an informed choice.
The sewage disposal violation carries its own distinct risk. Improper handling of wastewater in a food service environment creates a pathway for fecal contamination to reach food preparation surfaces, utensils, and food itself. Combined with improperly sanitized utensils and wiping cloths being used as cross-contamination vehicles, the September inspection described a facility with multiple simultaneous hygiene failures reinforcing each other.
The Longer Record
The September visit was not an anomaly. Clear Draught Haus has 29 inspections on record and has accumulated 258 total violations. That volume places it well outside what a routine inspection history looks like for a single location.
The most recent prior inspection, in April 2026, produced four high-severity violations and one intermediate. Before that, inspectors visited three times in a five-week stretch between late October and mid-November 2025, finding eight high-severity violations in the October 31 visit alone. That visit remains the single worst on record for the facility, though September's six high-severity citations come close.
High-severity violations have appeared in every inspection on record going back through at least 2024. The categories rotate, but the severity level does not. The facility has never been emergency-closed across all 29 inspections.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority exists for situations where inspectors determine a facility poses an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations at Clear Draught Haus on September 16, including food from an unknown source, undercooked items, and shellfish with no traceability records, did not meet that threshold.
The restaurant remained open that evening.
