KEY BISCAYNE, FL. Inspectors visiting El Gran Inka on Crandon Boulevard on May 29 documented food being sourced from an unapproved or unknown supplier, a violation that means no government inspector ever checked that food before it reached the kitchen.
That single finding was one of nine high-severity violations recorded during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The nine high-severity citations covered nearly every stage of food handling. Inspectors found that food employees were not washing their hands adequately, and that those who did attempt to wash used improper technique, leaving pathogens on their hands regardless.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards and prep areas that touch every ingredient, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. That failure creates a direct transfer route for bacteria from one dish to the next.
Two separate violations involved chemicals. Toxic substances were found improperly stored or labeled, and a second citation noted that toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used. Both violations were flagged at the high-severity level.
The restaurant also had no written employee health policy, meaning there was no documented procedure to prevent a sick worker from handling food. And it was serving raw or undercooked items without any consumer advisory posted to warn diners.
Four intermediate violations accompanied the nine high-severity citations. Inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation carries a specific and serious consequence: if a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the ingredient back through a supply chain. Approved food sources are inspected by USDA or FDA at the point of origin. Food from an unknown source has no such record, meaning contamination with Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli cannot be detected before it enters the kitchen.
The cooking temperature violation compounds that risk directly. If food arrives from an uninspected source and is then undercooked, any pathogens present survive to reach the plate. Salmonella in poultry requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be destroyed. Below that threshold, it remains viable.
The handwashing violations, two of them, represent what public health officials consider the most preventable contamination pathway in food service. One citation was for employees not washing at all. The second was for employees who washed but used the wrong technique. Together, they mean that even workers attempting to follow protocol were leaving pathogens on their hands before touching food.
The chemical storage violations introduce a separate and acute risk. Improperly labeled or stored cleaning chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers create the conditions for accidental poisoning. The improper sewage disposal citation at the intermediate level adds a third contamination route: fecal bacteria reaching surfaces or food through inadequate waste handling.
The Longer Record
The May 29 inspection was not an outlier. State records show El Gran Inka has accumulated 426 total violations across 30 inspections on record, and has been emergency-closed once before.
That prior closure came on September 27, 2021, for rodent activity. The restaurant was allowed to reopen the following day.
The inspection pattern since then shows high-severity violations in every recorded visit. The February 2026 inspection, three months before this one, produced 6 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations. The July 2024 inspection matched this week's tally exactly: 9 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate. The September 2022 inspection also reached 9 high-severity violations.
Going back further, the February 2024 inspection logged 6 high-severity violations. A pair of inspections on the same date in April 2024 produced 3 high-severity violations in one and 7 high-severity violations in the other. The March 2025 inspection found 5 high-severity violations.
In short, El Gran Inka has not recorded a clean inspection in any of the eight most recent visits on record. The violation counts have fluctuated, but the severity tier has not.
Still Open
State inspectors documented nine high-severity violations at El Gran Inka on May 29, 2026, including food from an unapproved source, undercooked food, two handwashing failures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and two chemical storage violations.
The restaurant was not emergency-closed.