HIALEAH, FL. Inspectors visiting El Imperio de la Comida at 1325 E 4th Ave on May 28 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning the restaurant was serving customers food that had never passed a USDA or FDA safety checkpoint. That was one of eight high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
The full list of what inspectors found that day is difficult to read as anything other than a compounding set of risks to anyone who ate there.
What Inspectors Found
Beyond the unapproved food sourcing, inspectors documented that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures. For poultry, that means Salmonella can survive and reach a customer's plate.
Toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used inside the kitchen. That violation sits alongside the finding that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that touch what customers eat, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Employees were not washing their hands adequately. Food was found in poor, adulterated, or mislabeled condition. And when the restaurant was using time rather than temperature to keep food safe, it was not doing so correctly, leaving food in the bacterial growth zone longer than permitted.
The ninth violation, classified as intermediate, was equipment in poor repair. Cracked, chipped, or corroded equipment cannot be fully sanitized, and bacteria colonize those surfaces between cleanings.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is among the most serious categories in Florida's inspection code because it breaks the traceability chain entirely. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the food back through a licensed distributor to identify a contamination source or pull a batch. The food at El Imperio de la Comida on May 28 came from somewhere that bypassed that system.
Undercooking compounds that risk directly. Salmonella in poultry requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be destroyed. When a kitchen is simultaneously sourcing food outside the regulated supply chain and failing to cook it to safe temperatures, those two failures do not simply add together. They multiply.
The improper storage or use of toxic substances inside a food-service kitchen creates a separate and immediate hazard. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food, or used on surfaces without proper rinsing, can contaminate food directly. Combined with unsanitized food contact surfaces, the contamination pathways documented at this facility on May 28 were not theoretical.
The missing consumer advisory matters most for specific groups: elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Without the required disclosure that certain items are served raw or undercooked, those customers cannot make an informed choice about what they order.
The Longer Record
The May 28 inspection was not the first time this facility accumulated serious violations in a single visit. State records show 29 inspections on file and 209 total violations across the facility's history.
The February 2026 inspection, just three months before this one, produced 10 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations. The October 2025 inspection on the 3rd of that month produced 9 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate violations. February 2024 produced 7 high-severity violations. January 2024 produced 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations.
The pattern is not a facility that stumbled once. It is a facility that has been cited for high-severity violations in six of the eight most recent inspection cycles on record.
There was one exception. A December 2025 inspection found zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations. That inspection came two months after the October visit with nine high-severity findings, and two months before the February 2026 visit with ten. The clean inspection sits between two of the worst on record.
El Imperio de la Comida has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history, despite accumulating 209 violations across 29 inspections and logging double-digit high-severity findings in multiple recent visits.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented eight high-severity violations at El Imperio de la Comida on May 28, 2026. Food of unknown origin. Undercooked food. Toxic substances improperly handled. Employees not washing their hands. Unsanitized surfaces touching food that customers would eat.
No emergency closure order was issued.
The restaurant at 1325 E 4th Ave in Hialeah remained open after the inspection.