FLORIDA. A Plant City pizza restaurant was inspected five times in 90 days and came away with four high-severity violations, more than any other facility on a statewide list of repeat-cited restaurants compiled from September 22 through October 22, 2026.
Esposito Pizza on James L. Redman Parkway drew citations for failing to maintain an employee health policy, using improper handwashing technique, failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures, and demonstrating no allergen awareness. Inspectors also cited two intermediate violations: single-use items being reused and inadequate ventilation. The restaurant's first inspection in the window came on September 29. Its last came on October 20.
That pattern, five visits in three months with high-severity violations persisting across them, is what separates a bad week from a management problem.
The Violations
Esposito Pizza's undercooked food citation is the most acutely dangerous violation on the list. Poultry that does not reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit can harbor live Salmonella. That violation, combined with the absence of an employee health policy and documented failures in handwashing technique, means the facility had three overlapping pathways for foodborne illness operating simultaneously during the inspection window.
Mizumi Buffet and Sushi on NE 163rd Street in North Miami Beach was cited for improper handwashing technique across five inspections running from September 28 to October 20. The violation is distinct from simply not washing hands: it means employees were making the attempt and still leaving pathogens behind.
Happy Buffet on W. 49th Street in Hialeah was cited for having no employee health policy, the same violation category that appeared at Esposito Pizza. Inspectors visited five times between September 28 and October 22.
Nori Thai Restaurant on Blind Pass Road in St. Pete Beach drew a high-severity citation for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. Five inspections ran from September 23 through October 5.
Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits on E. Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa was cited for food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, along with an intermediate ventilation violation. Its five inspections were compressed into a three-day window, September 24 through September 26.
Facilities With No High-Severity Violations
Not every restaurant on the list left the 90-day window with unresolved high-severity violations. St. James Cafe on W. Duval Street in Jacksonville was inspected nine times between September 23 and October 5, the highest inspection count of any facility in the dataset, and finished with zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen on 103rd Street in Jacksonville was inspected six times from October 9 to October 19 and also closed the period with no high-severity violations.
Family Kitchen Restaurant and Catering on W. Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Bagel Time Cafe on N. SR 7 in Margate, and Monkey Bar of Clearwater on Gulf to Bay Boulevard each drew five inspections and ended the window without high-severity or intermediate violations.
Hooters on San Jose Boulevard in Jacksonville finished six inspections with one intermediate violation, the reuse of single-use items. Asian Fusion Buffet on Harbor Village Lane in Apollo Beach closed five inspections with one intermediate citation for inadequate ventilation.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of an employee health policy, cited at both Esposito Pizza and Happy Buffet, is not a paperwork problem. Without a written policy that requires sick employees to report symptoms and stay out of food preparation, a worker with Norovirus can move through a kitchen shift and contaminate food that reaches dozens of customers. Norovirus accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and a single infected food handler is sufficient to trigger an outbreak.
Improper handwashing technique, cited at both Esposito Pizza and Mizumi Buffet and Sushi, is a failure that is harder to detect and harder to correct than simply not washing. It means employees are going through the motion without achieving the outcome. Pathogens including E. coli and Salmonella survive on hands that were rinsed but not scrubbed for the required duration with soap.
The undercooked food violation at Esposito Pizza sits at the top of the severity scale for a reason. Salmonella in poultry does not die below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. There is no visual indicator that chicken is undercooked. A customer has no way to know.
Improperly stored or labeled chemicals, the violation at Nori Thai Restaurant, carries a different risk profile than the biological hazards above. A cleaning chemical stored near food or in an unlabeled container can cause acute poisoning within minutes of ingestion, not the delayed onset typical of bacterial illness. The harm is immediate and the margin for error is narrow.
The Longer Record
Across the 12 facilities in this window, inspectors conducted a combined 66 visits in 90 days. That volume reflects something other than routine scheduling. Facilities accumulate re-inspections when violations are found and require follow-up, or when prior records flag a location for closer monitoring.
St. James Cafe's nine inspections in 13 days, from September 23 to October 5, is the most compressed inspection pattern in the dataset. The fact that the facility finished with no high-severity violations suggests those visits were follow-up confirmations rather than escalating discoveries. The opposite is true at Esposito Pizza, where five inspections over 21 days produced a four-violation high-severity record that includes food safety failures at multiple points in the preparation process simultaneously.
The Tampa Popeyes franchise stands apart for a different reason. Five inspections in three days is an unusual concentration, and the food contact surface sanitization violation it produced is a cross-contamination risk that applies to every item prepared in the kitchen. A cutting board or prep surface that is not properly sanitized between uses transfers bacteria from one food to the next regardless of how carefully individual ingredients are handled.
Mizumi Buffet and Sushi's handwashing violation persisting across five inspections over 22 days points to a training failure rather than a one-time oversight. Technique violations require active correction: employees have to be shown the correct method and monitored until it becomes consistent. Five inspections without resolution suggests that correction has not happened.
