HOLIDAY, FL. A food worker at Dino's Subs & Pizza on US Highway 19 was not reporting illness symptoms to management during the June 2 inspection, state records show, a violation that inspectors classify as an outbreak enabler and one of nine high-severity citations logged that day at the Pasco County restaurant.
The facility was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The nine high-severity violations covered nearly every layer of food safety, from the person running the kitchen to the surfaces food touched to the chemicals stored nearby. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no written employee health policy and for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, a combination that removes both the rule and the enforcement of the rule at the same time.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, meaning they were in proximity to food or food-contact areas without adequate separation or identification. Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that food touches directly, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Two additional high-severity violations involved seafood specifically. Inspectors found that shell stock identification records were inadequate, meaning there was no reliable documentation of where shellfish came from or when. Parasite destruction procedures for fish were also not being followed.
The person in charge was either not present or not performing supervisory duties. Employees were observed using improper handwashing technique, meaning pathogens can remain on hands even after a wash attempt is made.
The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, leaving customers with no notice that certain menu items carry elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and an employee not reporting illness symptoms is among the most direct routes to a multi-victim outbreak. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads efficiently when a sick food worker handles food without restriction. At Dino's, both the policy that would require reporting and the act of reporting itself were absent on June 2.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces are a primary vehicle for bacterial transfer. When a cutting board or prep surface is not sanitized between uses, whatever was on it before, raw meat, unwashed produce, contaminated hands, can move directly onto the next item prepared there.
The shellfish traceability violation carries a specific public health consequence. Without shell stock records, if a customer becomes ill after eating oysters, clams, or mussels, there is no reliable way to trace the source, identify a contaminated harvest lot, or warn others who may have eaten from the same supply.
The improper chemical storage violation is distinct from the others because it is not a slow-building risk. Chemicals stored near food or mislabeled can contaminate food directly and cause acute poisoning. It is among the violations that inspectors treat as immediately dangerous.
The Longer Record
The June 2 inspection was not a departure from pattern at Dino's. State records show 27 inspections on file for the restaurant, with 252 total violations documented across that history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent prior inspection, in December 2025, produced five high-severity violations and one intermediate. Before that, inspections in April and January 2025 each generated three and four high-severity violations respectively. Going back further, a single day in April 2024 produced two separate inspection reports, one with six high-severity violations and three intermediate, the other with two high-severity violations and one intermediate.
The categories of violations have not shifted substantially over time. Management control, employee health practices, and food safety procedures have appeared repeatedly across multiple inspection cycles. The June 2 total of nine high-severity violations in a single visit is the highest single-day count in the recent record, but it sits at the top of a consistent trend rather than outside it.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented nine high-severity violations at Dino's Subs & Pizza on June 2, 2026, including an employee not reporting illness symptoms, no written health policy, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and unsanitized food contact surfaces.
The restaurant was not ordered closed.