FLAGLER BEACH, FL. State inspectors visiting Coquina Coast Brewing Company at 318 Moody Blvd on September 25 found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, and no written employee health policy in place — six high-severity violations in a single inspection, and the brewery was not closed.
The facility remained open to the public after the visit.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate there that day. Salmonella survives in poultry held below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and inspectors cited the facility for failing to meet required minimum cooking temperatures.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. Mislabeled or misplaced chemicals near a food preparation environment create a contamination path that can cause acute poisoning, and there is no margin for error once a chemical reaches a plate.
The facility also had no written employee health policy. That means there was no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to report symptoms or stay off the line. Inspectors also documented that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and that multi-use utensils had not been properly cleaned, two separate pathways for bacterial transfer in the same kitchen on the same day.
No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items. Customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, elderly diners, and young children have no way to make an informed choice without that disclosure.
The person in charge was either not present or not performing their duties during the inspection. Inspectors also cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a violation that introduces risk of fecal contamination throughout the facility.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and no employee health policy is not incidental. Undercooking is a leading cause of foodborne illness nationally, and when it occurs in a kitchen where no written health policy exists, sick employees can work the line without any formal check. Those two violations, together, create compounding risk.
The improperly stored toxic chemicals add a separate and unrelated danger. Chemical contamination is not a slow-developing risk the way bacterial growth is. If a mislabeled chemical reaches food or a food contact surface, the harm is immediate.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms that standard wiping does not remove. Those biofilms protect bacteria from sanitizers and can persist across multiple service periods, meaning customers served on consecutive days face the same contamination risk.
The sewage and wastewater violation compounds all of it. Raw sewage contains pathogens including E. coli and Hepatitis A. Improper disposal anywhere in the facility creates a contamination pathway that is difficult to contain once established.
The Longer Record
September 25 was not an outlier for Coquina Coast Brewing. The facility's inspection record now spans 21 visits and 104 total violations, and the pattern of the past year is difficult to read as anything but a plateau at a high severity level.
Inspectors visited on July 22, 2026, and found six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. They visited on May 22, 2026, and found six high-severity violations and five intermediate violations. The September inspection produced the same high-severity count as July, with the same intermediate count.
Three consecutive inspections in 2026, each with six high-severity violations.
Before this year, the record was more uneven. A March 2025 inspection found one high and one intermediate violation. A May 2024 visit found three high violations. Two inspections in 2022 each produced one high violation. The facility had a clean inspection in November 2021, followed three days later by a visit that found three high violations and one intermediate.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in 21 inspections on record.
Still Open
Florida's inspection system gives inspectors discretion to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations at Coquina Coast Brewing on September 25 did not meet that threshold, at least not in the judgment of the inspector on site that day.
The brewery was open when the inspection ended.
That is the same outcome as July 22. The same outcome as May 22. Three inspections this year, eighteen high-severity violations across them, zero closures.
Customers who visited Coquina Coast Brewing after September 25 did so at a facility that inspectors had, hours or days earlier, cited for undercooked food, improperly stored toxic chemicals, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no mechanism to keep sick employees off the line.
The state's records show the visit happened. What happened after is not in the file.
