MIAMI, FL. Food from unapproved or unknown sources was among nine high-severity violations state inspectors documented at El Churrascaso Brazilian Grill at 20505 S. Dixie Highway on August 11, 2026, meaning some of what customers were served that day had bypassed federal safety inspections entirely.
The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The August 11 inspection produced nine high-severity violations and four intermediate ones. The high-severity list touched nearly every critical control point in food safety: sourcing, cooking, sanitation, employee health, and chemical storage.
Inspectors cited the restaurant for food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, a direct pathway for Salmonella survival in poultry. They also documented that toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used, creating a chemical contamination risk alongside the biological ones.
Two violations addressed employee illness. The restaurant had no written employee health policy, and workers were not reporting symptoms of illness. Those two citations together describe a kitchen where a sick employee had no formal obligation to stay home and no system requiring them to disclose symptoms before handling food.
Inspectors also cited inadequate shellfish identification records. The restaurant serves Brazilian-style grilled meats but apparently also handles shellfish, and without proper tags and records, there is no way to trace those shellfish back to their harvest source if a customer falls ill.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Wiping cloths were improperly used. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned. The intermediate violations compounded the high-severity ones: contamination routes were open at the sourcing stage, the cooking stage, and the surface contact stage simultaneously.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. When food enters a kitchen without passing through USDA or FDA-regulated supply chains, there is no inspection record, no traceability, and no way to identify the source if customers get sick. If an outbreak were traced to El Churrascaso, investigators would have nowhere to start.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk directly. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the meat arriving at this restaurant came from an uninspected source and was then cooked below the required temperature, customers received food that was neither sourced safely nor finished safely.
The employee illness violations describe a structural failure, not an isolated lapse. A restaurant with no written health policy gives sick workers no formal guidance to stay home. A restaurant where employees are not reporting symptoms is one where a Norovirus-infected cook can work an entire shift. Norovirus spreads person-to-person and through contaminated food surfaces, and a single sick worker can generate dozens of ill customers in a single service.
The shellfish traceability citation adds another layer. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked, including oysters and clams, are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen. Without harvest tags and receiving records, there is no chain of custody. Inspectors also found that the restaurant was not posting a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised had no warning that they were ordering something that carried elevated risk.
The Longer Record
The August 11 inspection was not a bad day in an otherwise clean history. It was the most recent entry in a record that now spans 12 inspections and 161 total violations.
The pattern is consistent. In October 2025, inspectors visited three days in a row. On October 13, they documented 14 high-severity and 8 intermediate violations. The following day, October 14, produced 8 high and 4 intermediate. A callback inspection on October 15 showed 1 high and 1 intermediate, suggesting the restaurant corrected enough to satisfy inspectors in the short term. By February 2026, the count was back up to 7 high and 3 intermediate violations.
The same categories recur across inspection cycles. Employee health, food sourcing, and surface sanitation have appeared repeatedly in this facility's record. The August 2026 inspection did not introduce new problem areas. It revisited the same ones.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed. In 12 inspections, with violations totaling 161 and high-severity counts reaching 14 in a single visit, the state has not ordered the doors shut.
Still Open
A follow-up inspection was conducted the next day, August 12, 2026. Inspectors found 1 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation, a significant drop from the day before.
Whether that rapid correction reflects genuine remediation or a temporary response to inspector presence is something the record cannot answer. What the record does show is that on August 11, customers ate at a restaurant where the food's origin was unknown, the cooking temperatures were insufficient, employees had no formal obligation to report illness, and toxic substances were not properly stored.
El Churrascaso Brazilian Grill remained open throughout.
