GREEN COVE SPRINGS, FL. Back in January 2026, a state inspector walking through El Supremo Grocery & Meat Market found the meat band saw in the food processing area carrying visible food buildup left over from the previous day's work.
The inspector's own notes read: "Meat band saw not clean, visible food build up from prior day." It was not the first time an inspector had flagged an unclean food-contact surface at this store.
What Inspectors Found
The January 22 inspection turned up three violations in total. Two were classified as priority foundation violations, meaning they relate to practices or conditions that support food safety rather than direct contamination risks, and one was a basic violation.
The band saw finding was marked both as a priority foundation violation and as a repeat. That designation matters: it means inspectors had documented the same category of problem at this location before.
Also in the retail area, inspectors found bread on sale that was missing required manufacturing information on its label. The inspector noted the bread was "missing manufacturing information" and pulled it from sale during the visit. An employee in the food processing area was also observed heating food items without wearing a hair restraint, and put one on during the inspection.
All three violations were noted as corrected on site. None remained unresolved at the time inspectors left.
What These Violations Mean
A meat band saw is one of the highest-risk pieces of equipment in any grocery meat department. The blade and its housing come into direct contact with raw meat, and food residue left overnight creates conditions where bacteria can multiply before the saw is used again the next morning. When that saw cuts fresh product the following day, any contamination on the blade transfers directly to the new meat going into the case.
The violation for unlabeled bread is not about aesthetics. Federal law under 21 CFR requires packaged food sold at retail to carry manufacturing information, including the name and address of the manufacturer or distributor. That requirement exists so regulators and consumers can trace a product back to its source if someone gets sick. Bread without that information cannot be traced.
Hair restraint violations are classified as basic, and in isolation they draw less concern than equipment sanitation or labeling failures. But an employee heating food without a hair restraint in a processing area is a direct potential path for a physical contaminant to reach product being prepared for sale.
The fact that all three violations were corrected during the inspection is meaningful. The inspector observed the band saw cleaned, the bread pulled, and the employee comply with the hair restraint requirement before leaving the building.
The Longer Record
El Supremo Grocery: Inspection History
The January 22 inspection did not happen in isolation. Just sixteen days earlier, on January 6, 2026, FDACS inspectors visited El Supremo and documented 21 violations, enough to require a re-inspection. That visit is what triggered the January 22 follow-up.
The drop from 21 violations to 3 between those two visits represents real improvement. The store met sanitation inspection requirements on January 22, where it had not on January 6.
But the repeat designation on the band saw violation cuts against that narrative. The unclean food-contact surface finding was not new to this inspection cycle. It had appeared before, and it appeared again.
The store's earlier record, from April 2024, showed a cleaner picture. A focused inspection that April turned up zero violations, and a routine inspection the day before found only two. The gap between that spring 2024 record and the 21-violation finding in January 2026 is the sharpest data point in the store's history on file.
Where Things Stood
When the January 22 inspector left, the band saw had been cleaned, the unlabeled bread had been pulled from the shelf, and the employee was wearing a hair restraint. The store met sanitation requirements that day.
The band saw, though, had already been cited as unclean before this visit. On the morning of January 22, it still carried visible food residue from the day before.