DAVIE, FL. Toxic substances were improperly stored or used inside DiSalvo's Pizza on South University Drive when state inspectors arrived on May 19, and that was not even the only high-severity violation they found that afternoon.
Inspectors documented six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations during the visit to the Davie pizzeria at 5945 S University Dr. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The toxic substances violation is among the most immediately dangerous a food service inspector can cite. Cleaning chemicals, pesticides, and other toxic compounds stored near or above food preparation surfaces can contaminate food directly, with no cooking step to neutralize the hazard.
Food contact surfaces, meaning the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touches the food customers eat, were also cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. That violation compounds the toxic storage problem: surfaces that carry chemical residue or bacterial buildup become a transfer point for everything prepared on them.
Inspectors also cited employees for improper hand and arm washing technique, and separately cited the facility for inadequate handwashing facilities. Both violations appeared on the same inspection report, meaning workers were attempting to wash their hands in conditions that made proper hygiene structurally impossible.
No employee health policy was on file. That means no written protocol existed to keep sick workers out of the kitchen.
The person in charge was either not present or not performing managerial duties during the inspection. That finding sat at the top of the violation list.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of inadequate handwashing facilities and documented improper technique is particularly significant. Handwashing is the single most effective barrier between a food worker's body and a customer's meal. When the infrastructure is broken and the technique is wrong, that barrier disappears entirely, regardless of how often workers attempt to wash up.
The absence of an employee health policy is not a paperwork problem. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to identify or exclude a worker who is sick with Norovirus, Salmonella, or Hepatitis A before that worker handles food. Norovirus alone accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food service workers are a primary transmission route.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces function as a relay. Bacteria or chemical residue left on a prep table or cutting board transfers directly to the next item placed on that surface, and the one after that. A single contaminated surface can affect every order prepared on it across an entire shift.
The toxic substances violation carries a different kind of risk. Chemical contamination of food does not produce symptoms hours later the way bacterial illness does. Depending on the substance and the dose, the effects can be immediate, and there is no way for a customer to detect the problem before eating.
The Longer Record
The May 19 inspection was not an anomaly. DiSalvo's Pizza has been inspected 43 times on record and has accumulated 348 total violations across that history.
The most recent prior inspections show a facility that cycles between brief compliance and serious breakdowns. Inspectors found nine high-severity violations on October 8, 2025, then returned the following day and found two more high-severity violations, and again the day after that before clearing the location. In April 2025, inspectors documented nine high-severity violations and four intermediate ones. In November 2024, the count reached 11 high-severity violations and three intermediate violations in a single visit.
The facility has been emergency-closed twice in its recorded history. In August 2017, inspectors shut it down for unsanitary conditions; it reopened the next day. In April 2021, it was closed again for fly activity and reopened within 24 hours.
Both prior closures involved conditions that inspectors judged severe enough to remove customers from the equation entirely. The May 2026 inspection, with six high-severity violations including improperly stored toxic substances and no employee health policy, did not result in a closure.
Still Open
The pattern across the past two years is consistent. A high-violation inspection is followed by a follow-up visit, violations drop, and then months later the numbers climb again. The April 2025 inspection logged nine high-severity violations. Seven months later, in November 2024, there were eleven.
State records show DiSalvo's Pizza on South University Drive logged its 348th violation on May 19, 2026, with six of the eight violations that day rated high-severity.
The restaurant remained open.