, FL. Empanadas recently placed in a hot holding cabinet measured 130 degrees Fahrenheit on the top shelf when a state inspector visited Don Miguel Latin Market on September 25, five degrees below the minimum safe holding temperature of 135 degrees.
That was one of three priority violations documented during the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspection. The market, classified as a Convenience Store Significant Food Service establishment, logged 16 total violations, including one flagged as a repeat from a prior inspection. None were corrected before the inspector arrived.
What Inspectors Found
The empanada temperature violation was corrected during the visit. According to the inspector's notes, the empanadas were rapidly reheated to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds before being returned to the cabinet. The hot holding unit's top shelf was adjusted by management and the corrected temperature was verified by the inspector.
The sanitizer problem was more unusual. The inspector found rags soaking in a chlorine sanitizer solution that exceeded 200 parts per million being used to wipe the deli slicer, a food-contact surface. The solution was too concentrated, meaning chemical residue left on the slicer could transfer directly to food. The solution was properly prepared and the slicer re-cleaned during the inspection.
Hand hygiene failures showed up in multiple places. An employee was observed washing hands and then drying them on a common towel hanging near the handwashing sink in the warewashing area. A separate employee was seen washing hands at the three-compartment sink rather than the designated handwashing sink. Both employees were redirected to the correct procedure during the visit.
The back room handwashing sink was blocked by utensils and equipment, though the inspector noted an adjacent cooking area had an accessible handwashing sink with no door blocking it.
The Repeat Violation
The market does not have a certified food protection manager who has passed an accredited examination. That finding is marked as a repeat, meaning inspectors documented the same deficiency during at least one prior visit.
The certification requirement exists for a reason. A trained food protection manager is responsible for ensuring that employees follow safe food handling procedures, including the exact practices that failed during this inspection: proper hand washing, correct sanitizer concentrations, and maintaining hot food at safe temperatures.
Finding the same gap in a return visit means the market has had time to correct it and has not.
Other Violations Across the Store
The inspection covered the retail floor, back room, food service area, and restroom. Problems were spread across all of them.
In the retail area, the inspector found unpackaged flats of eggs and commercially processed frozen tamales held in customer self-service coolers and freezers without packaging. The products were packaged during the inspection. Neither the silver cooler in the back room nor the glass-door milk cooler in the retail area had ambient air thermometers, leaving staff with no way to monitor whether those units were holding food at safe temperatures.
The front entrance doors had an open gap at the middle and bottom junctures that the inspector flagged as providing no protective seal against pest intrusion.
In the food service area, a food employee was wearing a watch while handling food, a violation because jewelry beyond a plain ring can trap bacteria and contaminate food. Duct tape on the floor and wall was covering wires from display coolers, a surface material violation. A wet rag was found sitting on a cutting board in the back room rather than stored in sanitizer solution between uses. The restroom door was left open.
Old food buildup was documented on the handles of coolers and freezers in the back room.
What These Violations Mean
Temperature control is the most direct food safety issue documented here. Bacteria multiply rapidly in food held between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Empanadas at 130 degrees, even briefly, create conditions where pathogens can reach dangerous levels before a customer takes a bite. The fact that the top shelf of the hot holding cabinet was not maintaining temperature means any food placed there was at risk, not just the batch caught during this visit.
The sanitizer concentration violation at the deli slicer is a different kind of risk. Chlorine sanitizer above 200 parts per million is not safe for food-contact surfaces. Residue from an overly concentrated solution left on a slicer blade transfers to every product cut on that surface. The deli slicer is one of the highest-risk pieces of equipment in any food service operation because it handles ready-to-eat foods that will not be cooked again before consumption.
Shared hand-drying towels are a direct contamination route. Multiple employees using the same cloth to dry their hands after washing transfers whatever bacteria were on the first employee's hands to every subsequent user, and from there to food and food-contact surfaces. The practice erases the benefit of hand washing entirely.
The Longer Record
The data provided for this inspection does not include a prior inspection count for Don Miguel Latin Market, so a full history comparison is not available. What the record does show is that at least one violation, the absence of a certified food protection manager, has appeared before. A repeat citation in that category indicates the market has operated through at least one prior inspection cycle without addressing a foundational staffing requirement.
The September 25 inspection ended with the market meeting sanitation requirements after on-site corrections. Twelve of the 16 violations were addressed during the visit. The four that were not corrected on site include the open gap in the front entrance doors, the food buildup on cooler handles, the missing ambient thermometers, and the repeat certification deficiency.
