ORLANDO, FL. An inspector visiting Dimsum King & Seafood on Conroy Road on August 18 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning some of what customers were served that day had never passed a USDA or FDA safety inspection and could not be traced if someone got sick.
That was one of eight high-severity violations documented at the restaurant during a single visit. The facility was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish finding compounded the sourcing violation. Inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning oysters, clams, or mussels served at the restaurant, foods often eaten raw or only lightly cooked, could not be traced to a certified harvest site. That matters acutely at a seafood-focused dim sum restaurant where shellfish dishes are central to the menu.
Inspectors also found food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep tables, and other surfaces that touch raw ingredients are a primary vehicle for bacterial transfer, particularly in a kitchen handling multiple proteins simultaneously.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. Unlabeled or misplaced chemical containers near food preparation areas carry a risk of direct contamination or accidental misuse by kitchen staff.
The remaining high-severity violations pointed to systemic knowledge gaps rather than isolated slip-ups. No employee health policy was in place, meaning there was no written procedure requiring sick workers to stay out of the kitchen. The inspector also cited improper hand and arm washing technique, noting that an attempt at handwashing had been made but done incorrectly, leaving pathogens on hands. No allergen awareness was demonstrated by staff. And the menu carried no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, leaving customers with no warning about dishes that carry elevated illness risk.
On the intermediate level, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, and inadequate ventilation and lighting. That is twelve violations in total from a single visit.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When a restaurant cannot document where its food came from, health officials cannot trace an outbreak back to a contaminated supplier. If a customer gets sick after eating here, investigators have no chain of custody to follow. The same logic applies to shellfish: oysters and clams harvested from uncertified waters carry Vibrio bacteria and norovirus at rates that certified suppliers are required to monitor and control.
The allergen violation carries its own distinct danger. Food allergies affect roughly 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, a customer with a shellfish or peanut allergy has no reliable way to order safely. At a restaurant serving dim sum, where dishes arrive in rapid succession and ingredients are not always visible, that gap is not theoretical.
The combination of no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique creates a direct transmission path for norovirus. Norovirus causes approximately 20 million cases of illness in the United States annually. A single sick food worker using incorrect handwashing technique can contaminate dozens of dishes before a shift ends.
Inadequate cooling equipment means that even if food arrives from a safe source, it can enter a bacterial growth zone during storage. Temperatures between 41 and 135 degrees allow bacteria like Salmonella and Listeria to multiply rapidly. Without functioning cold-holding equipment, that risk is not manageable.
The Longer Record
Dimsum King & Seafood: Recent Inspection History
August's inspection was not an aberration. State records show 29 inspections on file for Dimsum King & Seafood, with 353 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice, both times in 2025, both times for fly activity. It reopened the following day each time.
Every inspection on record going back to January 2024 has produced at least four high-severity violations. The September 2025 inspection produced nine. The December 2024 inspection also produced nine. The pattern is not one of a restaurant that slips occasionally. It is one of a restaurant that has produced high-severity violation counts on every documented visit for nearly two years.
The violations cited this August, including unapproved food sources and no allergen awareness, are not the kind that appear because a thermometer was miscalibrated or a floor drain backed up. They reflect training and policy decisions that persist between inspections.
Dimsum King & Seafood remained open after the August 18 visit.
