HOLLYWOOD, FL. A state inspector walked into Derry's Family Restaurant on Pembroke Road on July 23 and found food that had not been cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that means live pathogens may have reached customers' plates.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation was not the only one with direct implications for what landed on a customer's plate. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures, meaning fish, pork, or wild game may have been served without the freezing or cooking required to kill parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella.
The restaurant also had no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and failures in allergen communication cause an estimated 30,000 emergency room visits each year.
Three of the six high-severity violations were tied directly to hand hygiene. Inspectors found inadequate handwashing facilities, documented improper hand and arm washing technique, and noted the absence of an adequate employee health policy. That combination means the physical infrastructure for proper handwashing was lacking, the technique being used was wrong even when washing was attempted, and no written policy existed to keep sick workers out of the kitchen.
The intermediate violation rounded out the picture: multi-use utensils were not being properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to develop on surfaces that touch food at every service.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking violation carries some of the most direct risk of any citation an inspector can issue. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When food is pulled from heat before reaching required temperatures, the margin between a cooked meal and a vehicle for foodborne illness disappears. At Derry's, inspectors documented this failure on July 23.
The parasite destruction citation compounds that risk. Proper freezing protocols exist specifically because certain parasites cannot be killed by visual inspection or standard cooking shortcuts. When those protocols are skipped, customers eating fish or pork have no protection beyond whatever heat was applied in the moment.
The three handwashing violations together describe a system that had broken down at multiple levels. Inadequate facilities means the physical setup was wrong. Improper technique means the behavior was wrong even when the attempt was made. No health policy means the restaurant had no documented framework for keeping visibly ill employees away from food. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks, spreads directly through this kind of gap.
Improperly cleaned utensils at Derry's add another layer. Bacterial biofilms form on utensil surfaces within 24 hours of inadequate cleaning. Those biofilms are resistant to standard sanitizers and can transfer bacteria to every dish the utensil touches.
The Longer Record
The July 23 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Derry's Family Restaurant has accumulated 217 violations across 35 inspections on record, a total that reflects years of recurring findings rather than a single bad day.
The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice. In April 2022, inspectors shut it down for roach and fly activity. It reopened the next day. In September 2024, it was closed again, this time for rodent and fly activity, and again reopened within 24 hours. The September 2024 inspection that triggered that closure produced four high-severity and five intermediate violations on its own.
The pattern in the months surrounding July 23 is consistent. A November 2024 inspection found three high-severity violations. An August 2025 inspection found two high-severity and two intermediate violations. A January 2026 inspection found two high-severity violations. The July 23 inspection, with six high-severity citations, was the most serious single-day finding in at least two years.
A follow-up inspection on July 30 found one high-severity and one intermediate violation remaining. The restaurant was not closed at any point during this stretch.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented six high-severity violations at Derry's on July 23, including food served without reaching safe cooking temperatures, fish or meat handled without parasite destruction protocols, no staff allergen awareness, and a handwashing system that had failed at the facility, technique, and policy levels simultaneously.
The restaurant has two prior emergency closures and 217 violations across 35 inspections on record.
It was not closed after the July 23 inspection.
