DUNEDIN, FL. State inspectors visited Dunedin Cricketers on Bayshore Boulevard on April 28 and found that the restaurant was serving shellfish without the identification records required to trace those oysters, clams, or mussels back to their source if a customer got sick.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented in a single inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish citation and the parasite destruction failure stood out as the most acute risks. Inspectors found that procedures required to destroy parasites in fish, pork, and wild game were not being followed. Without proper freezing or cooking to prescribed temperatures, parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella can survive and reach customers.
Food contact surfaces were also cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized, a violation that puts every dish leaving the kitchen at risk of bacterial transfer. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that carry residue from one food to the next are among the most common vehicles for cross-contamination in restaurant kitchens.
Inspectors additionally cited toxic substances as improperly identified, stored, or used. That violation carries immediate risk of chemical contamination of food, whether from cleaning agents shelved near prep areas or unlabeled containers within reach of kitchen staff.
The remaining high-severity citations covered an absent or inadequate employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items.
What These Violations Mean
The shellfish traceability failure is not a paperwork problem. When a customer gets sick after eating raw or lightly cooked oysters, clams, or mussels, the identification tags and receiving records are what allow investigators to trace the batch back to a specific harvest area and pull it from other restaurants before more people are sickened. Without those records, that chain breaks entirely.
The parasite destruction citation is directly connected to the shellfish issue. Dunedin Cricketers serves a menu where raw and undercooked seafood is a reasonable expectation, and the combination of no traceability records and no verified parasite destruction protocol means customers had no reliable safeguard on either end of that risk.
The absence of a consumer advisory compounds both. State rules require restaurants to warn customers when menu items are served raw or undercooked, specifically so that elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system can make an informed choice. No advisory means those customers had no warning.
Improperly sanitized food contact surfaces and misused wiping cloths, both cited in this inspection, tend to amplify every other risk in the kitchen. A surface that carries bacterial residue from raw protein to a ready-to-eat item can turn a single contamination event into many.
The Longer Record
The April 28 inspection was the 27th on record for Dunedin Cricketers. Across those inspections, the facility has accumulated 282 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent prior inspection, on February 4, 2026, produced eight high-severity violations and four intermediate ones, a worse single-visit count than April's inspection. Before that, an April 1, 2025 visit found four high-severity violations, and a December 2024 inspection produced three more.
The pattern is not new. Inspectors visited on back-to-back days in April 2025, finding four high-severity violations on April 1 and returning on April 4. High-severity citations also appeared in May 2024 and twice in April 2024. The two inspections that produced zero high-severity violations, in February 2025 and February 2024, sit between stretches of repeated high-severity findings.
The shellfish traceability and parasite destruction violations cited on April 28 are not the kind that appear by accident. They require active procedures and record-keeping that must be maintained between inspections. Their presence in the April 28 report, following eight high-severity violations just two months earlier, places them in a facility that has had ample opportunity to address systemic food safety gaps.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Seven high-severity violations, including failures tied to shellfish sourcing, parasite destruction, chemical storage, and food surface sanitation, did not meet that threshold on April 28.
Dunedin Cricketers on Bayshore Boulevard remained open after the inspection.