STUART, FL. Inspectors visiting Duffy's Sports Grill on SW Osceola Street on May 4 found food from unapproved or unknown sources on the premises, a violation that means some of what was being served to customers that day had bypassed federal safety inspections entirely.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation was not the only one tied to what was on the menu. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures, a required step for fish and certain other proteins served raw or undercooked. Without documented freezing at specific temperatures for specific time periods, parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm can survive and reach the customer's plate.
The third food-safety citation involved shellfish. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning oysters, clams, or mussels on the premises could not be traced to a certified harvester. Shellfish traceability exists for one reason: if a customer gets sick, investigators need to know where the product came from.
Rounding out the food-related violations, the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items. Florida law requires that customers be warned when a menu item is served in a way that increases their risk of foodborne illness.
Beyond the food itself, inspectors found no written employee health policy and no person in charge actively performing managerial duties. Multi-use utensils were not being properly cleaned. Ventilation and lighting were also cited as inadequate.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is one of the more serious citations an inspector can write. Food that enters a restaurant through channels outside the USDA and FDA inspection system has no verified safety record. If a customer becomes ill, there is no supply chain to trace, no recall to trigger, no farm or distributor to investigate.
The parasite destruction and shellfish traceability violations compound that concern. Both involve foods, fish and shellfish, that carry specific biological risks when proper protocols are skipped. Shellfish filter large volumes of water and concentrate whatever pathogens are present. Oysters and clams from uncertified sources have been linked to Vibrio and hepatitis A outbreaks. The identification records inspectors require are not paperwork for its own sake; they are the mechanism that allows a public health response when people start getting sick.
The absence of an employee health policy is a separate category of risk. Without a written policy, there is no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to report symptoms or stay home. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads readily from an infected food handler to every plate that handler touches.
The person-in-charge violation ties all of it together. CDC data links the absence of active managerial control to three times more critical violations in a given establishment. When no one is accountable for the floor, the other violations tend to follow.
The Longer Record
The May 4 inspection was the 23rd on record for this location. Across those inspections, the restaurant has accumulated 67 total violations, and it has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern across the most recent years shows a facility that cycles through violations without resolving them at the category level. In March 2023, inspectors cited three high-severity violations. In July 2023, two more high-severity violations were documented. High-severity citations appeared again in April 2024, December 2024, and twice in January 2026, including a two-high-severity visit the day before a follow-up inspection that came back clean.
That January sequence is worth noting. On January 29, 2026, inspectors found two high-severity and two intermediate violations. The next day, a follow-up visit recorded zero violations at either severity level. The May 4 inspection, four months later, produced the worst single-visit result in the restaurant's recent history: six high-severity citations.
The violations from May 4 are not the same categories that appeared in prior visits, which makes direct comparison difficult. But the volume, six high-severity citations in a single inspection, stands apart from anything else in this location's recent record.
Open for Business
Florida law does not require emergency closure for high-severity violations alone. Closure is typically triggered by conditions that present an immediate, specific threat, such as live pest activity, sewage backup, or loss of running water. Six high-severity violations, including food from unapproved sources and no parasite destruction records, do not automatically meet that threshold.
Duffy's Sports Grill on SW Osceola Street remained open after the May 4 inspection.