MIAMI, FL. A state inspector walked into Diced on SW 8th Street on April 30 and found shellfish on the menu with no identification records, meaning if a customer got sick, there would be no way to trace where the oysters, clams, or mussels came from.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. When food arrives outside the regulated supply chain, it has bypassed the federal inspection process entirely. There is no documentation, no certification, and no way to identify the origin if someone becomes ill.
The shellfish records violation compounds that risk directly. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently eaten raw or lightly cooked, and shellfish are among the most common vehicles for Norovirus and Vibrio infections. State law requires restaurants to keep shell stock identification tags so that a specific harvest lot can be traced if illnesses are reported. At Diced on April 30, those records were inadequate.
The inspector also cited the restaurant for failing to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. That notice exists specifically to warn elderly customers, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system that consuming raw shellfish or undercooked proteins carries elevated risk. Without it, those customers have no way to make an informed choice.
The Illness Risk No One Documented
Two of the six high-severity violations centered on sick employees. The restaurant had no written employee health policy, and at least one employee was not reporting illness symptoms as required.
These two violations together describe a specific failure: no formal system existed to prevent a sick worker from handling food, and the reporting behavior that would trigger any informal response was also absent. Food workers are the primary transmission route for Norovirus, which causes the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings in the United States.
The inspector also found that Diced was not properly using time as a public health control. When a restaurant uses time rather than temperature to manage food safety, it must track exactly how long food has been in the temperature danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit and discard it at the required interval. The records or procedures to do that were not in place.
Six intermediate violations accompanied the six high-severity ones. Inspectors cited inadequate cooling and cold holding equipment, single-use items being reused, improper waste disposal, improperly used wiping cloths, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and missing shellfish traceability records is not a paperwork problem. If a customer who ate at Diced on or around April 30 develops a Vibrio or Listeria infection, investigators would have no documented supply chain to work from. The shellfish tag requirement exists precisely because outbreaks have occurred and the ability to pull a specific harvest lot from distribution depends entirely on those records existing.
The employee illness violations carry a different but equally direct risk. Norovirus can survive on surfaces for days and spreads through contact with contaminated food or hands. A single sick employee working a full shift in a kitchen without a health policy requiring them to report or stay home can expose dozens of customers. At Diced, neither the policy nor the reporting behavior was in place on April 30.
The missing consumer advisory matters most for the customers least equipped to recover from a foodborne illness. A 70-year-old with a compromised immune system who orders raw shellfish at a restaurant has the right to know that the food carries elevated risk. That warning was not posted.
The Longer Record
The April 30 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 27 inspections on file for Diced, with 171 total violations accumulated across that history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in recent years is one of recurring high-severity findings. Inspectors cited four high-severity violations in January 2026, three in July 2025, four in August 2024, and two in February 2025. The July 30, 2025 inspection found zero high-severity violations, but that clean visit was preceded one day earlier, on July 29, by three high-severity citations.
The day after the April 30 inspection, on May 1, an inspector returned and found one high-severity violation and three intermediate ones. The restaurant had not resolved its compliance problems overnight.
Diced has been inspected at least eight times in the past two years. High-severity violations appeared in six of those eight visits. The facility has never triggered an emergency closure order.
After an inspection that documented food from an unapproved source, shellfish with no traceability records, no employee illness policy, no illness reporting, and no consumer advisory for raw foods, Diced remained open for service.