MELBOURNE, FL. Inspectors visiting Del Taco on Sarno Road on August 19, 2026 found that no one working that day could demonstrate allergen awareness, meaning customers with life-threatening food allergies had no reliable way to know what was in their food.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented at the Brevard County location. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspection also found that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, a direct pathway for diseases like norovirus to move from a sick worker to a customer's food. Toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled somewhere in the facility, raising the risk of contamination through mislabeling or proximity to food prep areas.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touch every item served, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and cited the restaurant for failing to post a consumer advisory for any raw or undercooked menu items.
No person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection.
The two intermediate violations covered improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The allergen violation is not a paperwork problem. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send roughly 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, a customer with a peanut, dairy, or wheat allergy is relying on employees who have no verified knowledge of what is in the food they are handing over.
The illness-reporting failure compounds the risk. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through food handlers who are sick but working anyway. When employees are not trained or required to report symptoms, there is no filter between a sick worker and a customer's meal.
Improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals sit alongside that. A cleaning solution stored near a food prep surface, or a bottle without a legible label, can contaminate food directly, and in that scenario, customers would have no way of knowing until they were already sick.
The unsanitized food contact surfaces tie it together. Bacteria transferred from a dirty prep surface to finished food bypasses every other safeguard in the kitchen. At a facility where no manager was present to enforce any of these standards, each violation reinforces the next.
The Longer Record
The August 19 inspection was not an isolated bad day. State records show the Sarno Road location has accumulated 117 total violations across 22 inspections on record.
Four months earlier, in April 2026, inspectors found four high-severity violations and one intermediate. The June 2025 inspection produced four high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. The November 2024 inspection cycle, which included two visits on the same date, produced a combined four high-severity violations.
The pattern holds: this location has never been emergency-closed, but it has never strung together more than a few consecutive clean inspections. The August 2026 visit, with seven high-severity citations, represents the worst single-inspection total in the visible history of the location.
A follow-up inspection five days later, on August 24, found zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations. The turnaround suggests the problems on August 19 were correctable. It does not explain why they existed in the first place, or why a facility with this inspection history had no manager on duty when inspectors arrived.
Open for Business
Florida law gives inspectors the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Seven high-severity violations at a single inspection, including no allergen awareness, employees not reporting illness, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and improperly stored chemicals, did not meet that threshold on August 19.
The Del Taco on Sarno Road served customers throughout that day.
