DELAND, FL. Back in January 2026, state inspectors walked into Deland Shop And Smile LLC on a routine visit and found the convenience store open, serving food to customers, and operating without a valid food permit.
That was among 42 total violations documented during the January 23 inspection by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Six were priority violations. Two were repeats from prior inspections. Not one violation was corrected on site before inspectors left.
What Inspectors Found Inside
The inspector's records described food being prepared and served to the public in a food service area with no handwashing sink. The employee on site was washing hands inside the ware-washing sink instead. The restroom that was available had no soap and no hand-drying device at the sink.
Temperature readings throughout the store told a consistent story about failing equipment. The inspector measured raw shelled eggs at 70 degrees F inside the reach-in cooler. Cut tomato registered 68 degrees F, cut lettuce 57 degrees F, and an open container of provolone cheese 58 degrees F, all in the same cooler. Raw bacon measured 57 degrees F. Opened sausage packages registered between 48 and 54 degrees F.
The reach-in cooler was not maintaining 41 degrees F, the legal threshold for time-temperature control safety foods. A chest freezer in the kitchen was not maintaining frozen temperatures either, and the inspector found thawed repackaged raw chicken, thawed ready-to-eat roast beef lunch meat, and thawed chicken lunch meat stored inside it. The manager told the inspector the freezer was meant to keep food frozen, not serve as a cooler.
Two violations were marked as repeats. Frozen food not maintained frozen had been cited before. And the store still had no current laboratory analysis for its packaged ice, a violation that had also appeared in a prior inspection. The inspector gave the establishment 30 days to provide a satisfactory ice test, warning that failure could result in a stop use order on the ice machine and a stop sale order on all ice sold there.
The Ice Machine and the Toilet Room
The ice operation drew particular attention. The inspector documented a dark mold-like substance on the interior side walls, ceiling, and components of the ice machine and issued a stop use order. The back room where ice is processed has a toilet room that opens directly into it, a condition the inspector also flagged with a stop use order.
Unused equipment and various articles were described as accumulating in the ice packing area in a manner that was restricting inspector access.
Inspectors also found raw chicken being stored in black plastic grocery sacks, along with raw bacon and ready-to-eat foods in the same type of bag. Tin foil containers of raw chicken were stored over unwashed produce and ready-to-eat foods in the reach-in cooler. Plastic containers of raw shelled eggs were stored on a shelf above ready-to-eat foods in the same unit.
A tilapia fillets bag had been repurposed to store raw bacon. The deli meat slicer had food residue buildup and, according to the manager, was washed once a day. The microwave used by both kitchen staff and customers had old food residue inside and was cleaned once a week, per the employee on site.
Products labeled for individual retail sale included Capri Sun foil pouches bearing a statement that they were not labeled for individual sale, displayed in the reach-in cooler for self-service. Sleeves of crackers and cookies at the hot bar area carried no source information. All were pulled under stop sale orders.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of a handwashing sink in the food service area is among the most direct contamination risks inspectors can document. When employees have no designated place to wash hands, cross-contamination between raw proteins, surfaces, and ready-to-eat foods becomes a routine feature of food preparation rather than an exception. The inspector noted a pattern of non-compliance across multiple duties, including hand washing, sanitization of food-contact surfaces, and employee training.
Temperature violations at this store were not isolated to one cooler or one product. They were documented across the reach-in cooler, the chest freezer, and multiple product categories simultaneously. When cold-held foods rise above 41 degrees F, bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli can multiply rapidly. Raw eggs measured at 70 degrees F represent a significant Salmonella risk on their own, and at this store they were stored above ready-to-eat foods.
The mold documented inside the ice machine matters because ice is a food under Florida law. Customers buying bagged ice from a machine with mold on its interior surfaces and no current laboratory verification of water quality have no way to know what they are purchasing. The stop use order placed on the machine was intended to prevent further sales until the contamination issue is resolved.
The misbranded products, crackers, cookies, and Capri Suns not labeled for individual retail sale, represent a separate concern. Labeling requirements exist so consumers can identify what they are buying and so regulators can trace products back to their source if someone becomes ill.
The Longer Record
The January 2026 inspection was not the first time state inspectors visited this location. FDACS records show four prior inspections going back to October 2023, and all four were focused inspections that resulted in zero violations.
That history makes the January findings harder to explain away as a one-time lapse. Focused inspections typically examine a narrower scope than a full operating inspection. The January 2026 visit was a full inspection, and it produced 42 violations, 6 of them priority level, 2 of them repeats from earlier visits.
The two repeat violations, frozen food not maintained frozen and no current lab analysis for packaged ice, indicate that at least some of these problems existed before January and were not corrected. A re-inspection was required as a condition of the January visit.
Records show a subsequent focused inspection on March 30, 2026 found zero violations. What the store looked like on January 23, when inspectors documented a toilet room opening into the ice processing area, a reach-in cooler unable to hold 41 degrees F, and food being prepared without a valid permit or a handwashing sink, remains in the public record.