FORT PIERCE, FL. State inspectors found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures at Dale's Bar B Q on South US 1 during an August 18 visit, a violation that means Salmonella and other pathogens can survive in the meat and reach a customer's plate. That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food citation was not the only acute concern. Inspectors also documented toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and separately cited toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two distinct chemical-handling violations in a single inspection at a barbecue restaurant, where open flame and meat preparation share close quarters, represent a direct contamination risk.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards and prep surfaces that carry bacteria from one food item to the next are among the most reliable routes to a customer's illness.
Inspectors also found that employees were using improper handwashing technique, a citation that goes beyond the question of whether hands were washed at all. Even a worker who intends to wash hands correctly can leave dangerous levels of pathogens behind if the technique is wrong. The restaurant also had no written employee health policy, meaning there was no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to stay out of the kitchen.
On the intermediate side, inspectors cited inadequate or improperly maintained cooling equipment, improper use of wiping cloths, inadequate toilet facilities, and equipment in poor repair. Ten violations total.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ordered poultry that day. Salmonella survives in chicken below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single serving of undercooked poultry can cause illness severe enough to require hospitalization. At a barbecue restaurant, where smoke and char can make meat appear done when it is not, internal temperature verification is the only reliable safeguard.
The two chemical violations compound the risk in a different direction. Improperly stored or unlabeled cleaning chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate food without any visible sign. A customer would have no way to know, and the onset of chemical poisoning can be rapid.
The lack of an employee health policy matters because it removes the structural barrier between a sick worker and the food supply. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads readily through food handled by infected employees. Without a written policy requiring workers to report symptoms and stay home, there is no system to catch that risk before it reaches a plate.
The inadequate cooling equipment citation adds another layer. Equipment that cannot hold food at proper cold temperatures pushes food into the bacterial growth zone, where pathogens multiply quickly. Combined with improperly used wiping cloths, which can carry bacteria from a contaminated surface to a clean one, the conditions documented on August 18 describe a kitchen with multiple simultaneous failure points.
The Longer Record
The August 18 inspection was not an outlier. Dale's Bar B Q has accumulated 183 total violations across 29 inspections on record, a pace that works out to more than six violations per visit on average.
The most recent eight inspections tell a consistent story. The restaurant was cited for four high-severity violations in February 2026, three high-severity violations in August 2025, six high-severity violations in January 2025, and four high-severity violations in both July and February 2024. The August 18 total of six high-severity violations matches the single-visit peak the record shows, last reached in January 2025 and before that in March 2023.
High-severity violations have appeared at every inspection in the past three years without exception. The categories recur: food handling, temperature control, and contamination risks documented visit after visit.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. That record holds despite a pattern in which six high-severity violations in a single inspection has now occurred at least three times.
Still Open
State inspectors left Dale's Bar B Q open on August 18, 2026, after documenting six high-severity violations that included undercooked food, two separate chemical storage failures, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, and no written health policy for employees.
The 29th inspection on record produced the same result as the previous 28.
The restaurant was open for business.
