FORT MYERS, FL. State inspectors walked into Dona Juana Guatemalan Restaurant at 4901 Palm Beach Blvd. on April 20 and documented food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means no government inspector ever checked that food before it reached customers' plates.
The restaurant logged six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations that day. It was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source citation was not the only violation raising immediate safety questions. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures, meaning fish, pork, or wild game served there was not properly frozen or cooked to kill parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella.
Toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used, a finding that carries immediate risk of chemical contamination in food. Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, counters, and prep equipment that touch every dish that leaves the kitchen, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The restaurant was also cited for failing to properly use time as a public health control. When a kitchen relies on time rather than temperature to keep food safe, strict tracking is required. The inspector found that system was not being followed.
Inadequate shell stock identification records rounded out the high-severity list. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are among the highest-risk foods served in any restaurant because they are often consumed raw or lightly cooked. Without proper tagging records, there is no way to trace a contaminated batch if customers fall ill.
The two intermediate violations added to the picture. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to develop on surfaces that touch food every service. Toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained, a problem that directly undermines the basic handwashing infrastructure a kitchen depends on.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. USDA and FDA inspections exist to screen for pathogens including Listeria and Salmonella before food enters a restaurant's kitchen. When a facility sources food outside that system, there is no record, no test result, and no way to trace an illness back to the origin if a customer gets sick.
The parasite destruction failure compounds that risk. Parasites in undercooked fish or pork are not killed by refrigeration. They require either sustained high heat or extended freezing at specific temperatures. At Dona Juana, inspectors found that process was not being followed, meaning any fish or pork dish on the menu that day carried a risk the kitchen had not controlled.
Toxic substance mishandling is categorically different from a food temperature or sourcing problem. Cleaning chemicals stored or labeled incorrectly can contaminate food directly, and the exposure can be immediate. Combined with food contact surfaces that were not properly sanitized, the April 20 inspection documented a kitchen where multiple basic contamination barriers had broken down at the same time.
The toilet facility violation matters beyond comfort. When employee restrooms are inadequate or poorly maintained, employees avoid using them. That avoidance breaks the handwashing chain that sits between the kitchen and every customer.
The Longer Record
The April 20 inspection was not a bad day at an otherwise clean restaurant. State records show Dona Juana has been inspected 18 times and has accumulated 108 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in the high-severity column is consistent. Inspectors documented five high-severity violations in December 2025, four in April 2025, three in November 2024, five in March 2024, six in July 2023, six in March 2023, and five in July 2022. The only inspection in recent years that produced zero high-severity violations was May 2024.
That is eight of the nine most recent inspections with at least three high-severity violations each. The April 2026 total of six matches the worst single-visit counts in the restaurant's history, tied with July 2023 and March 2023.
Dona Juana: High-Severity Violations by Inspection
No inspection in that stretch produced a single emergency closure order.
Open for Business
After inspectors documented food from an unknown source, parasite controls that were not followed, toxic substances improperly stored, unsanitized food contact surfaces, a broken time-control system, missing shellfish records, dirty multi-use utensils, and failing toilet facilities, Dona Juana Guatemalan Restaurant on Palm Beach Boulevard remained open to the public.
That is the full record of the April 20, 2026 inspection. The restaurant has now been cited for six high-severity violations in a single visit twice in three years, and it has never been closed.