CLEARWATER BEACH, FL. A food worker at Clear Skyz Cafe on Mandalay Avenue was observed using improper handwashing technique during a September 11 inspection, meaning pathogens were left on hands even after a washing attempt, according to state records. That was one of eight high-severity violations documented that day. The cafe was not closed.
The inspection turned up no intermediate violations and no basic violations. Every single citation was high-severity.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is among the most direct threats to customer health on the list. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single undercooked serving is enough to cause serious illness.
Inspectors also found that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, and that no written employee health policy existed. Those two violations together mean there was no system in place to keep a sick worker out of the kitchen, and no documentation requiring one.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, creating a direct path for bacterial transfer between raw and ready-to-eat foods. The handwashing facility was cited as inadequate, meaning even a worker who wanted to wash hands correctly may not have been able to.
The person in charge was either absent or not performing supervisory duties. State research links that condition to three times more critical violations in a given inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is what public health officials call an outbreak enabler. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads most efficiently through food workers who are sick and continue handling food. Without a written policy requiring workers to report symptoms, there is no mechanism to remove them from service.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk. If a food worker is ill and food is also not reaching safe internal temperatures, customers face exposure from two simultaneous failure points in the same meal.
The consumer advisory violation means that customers who are elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised, or otherwise vulnerable had no notice that raw or undercooked items were on the menu. That information is required precisely because those groups face the most severe consequences from foodborne illness, including hospitalization.
Inadequate handwashing facilities and improper technique cited together indicate a systemic breakdown, not a single lapse. One violation suggests a worker cut a corner. Both together suggest the infrastructure for basic hygiene was not functioning.
The Longer Record
The September 11 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 35 inspections on file for Clear Skyz Cafe, with 233 total violations accumulated across that history.
The pattern in recent years is consistent. On March 24, 2025, inspectors found 7 high-severity violations and zero intermediate ones, a nearly identical profile to the September 2026 visit. A follow-up two days later, on March 25, showed zero violations, suggesting corrections were made quickly. But by July 21, 2025, the cafe was back to 7 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate in a single inspection.
The same cycle repeated in early 2024. A January 8 inspection turned up 6 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate. A follow-up three days later, on January 11, showed zero violations. A July 2024 inspection found 4 high-severity violations.
The cafe has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record. That is notable given that several of those inspections, including this one, documented violation counts and violation types that have triggered emergency closures at other Florida establishments.
Still Open
The violations documented on September 11 covered nearly every layer of food safety: management oversight, worker health screening, hand hygiene infrastructure, hand hygiene technique, surface sanitation, cooking temperatures, and customer notification. All eight citations were high-severity. None were intermediate or basic.
State inspectors left the cafe open.
