CLERMONT, FL. Food at Crafted on West Montrose Street was not cooked to the required minimum temperature during a state inspection on May 13, a violation inspectors classify as a direct pathway for pathogens like Salmonella to survive and reach a customer's plate. That single citation sat alongside nine other high-severity violations in the same visit. The restaurant remained open.
State records show inspectors documented 10 high-priority violations and 6 intermediate violations during the May 13 visit, a total of 16 citations across a single inspection of the Clermont bar and restaurant.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation was not the only citation that put customers at direct risk. Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and separately cited the facility for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two distinct chemical-handling violations in one visit means the risk of contamination through mislabeling or proximity to food surfaces was not a single oversight but a systemic one.
No allergen awareness was demonstrated by staff. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and a kitchen that cannot identify or communicate allergen risks to customers is one where a person with a severe allergy has no reliable way to make a safe choice.
Inspectors also found that handwashing facilities were inadequate and that the hand and arm washing technique used by staff was improper. Both violations appeared in the same inspection, meaning the facility lacked both the infrastructure and the practice for basic hand hygiene.
The person in charge was either not present or not performing duties. Time as a public health control was not properly used, and no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked foods. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
On the intermediate level, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The cooking temperature violation is among the most direct food safety failures an inspector can document. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food is not brought to the required minimum temperature, any pathogen present in the raw product is not destroyed before it reaches the customer. There is no secondary safeguard once undercooked food leaves the kitchen.
The two chemical violations compound that risk in a different direction. Improperly stored or mislabeled chemicals near food can cause acute poisoning through direct contamination. When a facility generates two separate chemical citations in one inspection, it suggests the problem is not a single bottle in the wrong place but a broader failure in how toxic substances are managed throughout the kitchen.
The allergen citation carries its own acute danger. Without staff who can demonstrate allergen awareness, a customer with a tree nut, shellfish, or gluten allergy who asks the right questions may still receive a wrong answer. Allergic reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year in the United States.
The absence of an active person in charge ties these failures together. CDC data shows that establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged supervision. At Crafted on May 13, inspectors found no one performing that function, and the violations reflect it.
The Longer Record
The May 13 inspection did not mark the beginning of Crafted's compliance problems. It arrived at the end of a week in which inspectors had already visited the same facility twice.
On May 8, inspectors documented 13 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations. The day before that, on May 7, they found 14 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations. Three inspections across seven days produced a combined 37 high-priority citations.
Crafted: Recent Inspection Pattern
The facility has 39 inspections on record and 573 total violations across its history. That average approaches 15 violations per inspection across its entire documented record.
Crafted was emergency-closed once before, in December 2015, after inspectors found roach activity. It reopened the next day. In the decade since, the facility has accumulated hundreds of additional violations without a second closure.
The inspection history shows the pattern is not new and not improving. A clean visit on June 24, 2025 followed a 12-high-violation inspection two weeks earlier. Counts dropped in the fall, then climbed again by spring 2026 to their highest sustained levels in the recent record.
After three inspections in seven days and 37 combined high-priority violations, Crafted on West Montrose Street remained open on May 13.