CUTLER BAY, FL. Back in January 2026, state inspectors walked into a Cutler Bay convenience store and found it operating without a valid food permit, a violation that sits at the center of a six-item inspection report that also flagged raw shell eggs stored above milk, no soap or paper towels at the employee hand-washing sink, and no probe thermometer anywhere on the premises.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspected Food Fare, a convenience and prepackaged food store, on January 9, 2026. The inspection was triggered specifically because the establishment was operating without a valid food permit. Inspectors found six violations in total, including one priority violation.
What Inspectors Found
The permit violation was the reason for the inspection in the first place. The inspector's notes state plainly: "The food establishment is operating without a valid food permit." An application had been submitted, the record shows, but the store had not yet remitted the required fee. Inspectors gave the establishment ten days to pay.
The priority violation involved raw shell eggs stored on a shelf above milk gallons in the retail area. Under food safety rules, raw animal products must be kept separated from ready-to-eat items during storage to prevent contamination. The eggs were moved to an appropriate location during the inspection.
The backroom hand-washing sink had neither soap nor paper towels when inspectors arrived. The items were provided before inspectors left, but the sink had been in use without them.
The store also had no probe thermometer available anywhere on the premises. Without one, employees had no way to verify that cold-held or cooling foods were staying within safe temperature ranges. That violation was not corrected during the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
Operating without a valid food permit is not a paperwork technicality. The permit process exists so that regulators can verify a facility meets baseline safety standards before it opens to the public. A store selling food without one has not gone through that verification. If something goes wrong, including a contamination event or a foodborne illness complaint, the absence of a permit complicates traceability and regulatory response.
The raw egg storage violation is a direct cross-contamination risk. Shell eggs can carry Salmonella on their exterior surfaces. When stored above open or loosely sealed dairy products, any drip or crack can transfer bacteria to items a customer will consume without cooking. The inspector caught this and had it corrected on site, but it reflects a storage practice that should not have existed in the first place.
No soap at a hand-washing sink means employees were handling food, packaging, and surfaces without a functional way to wash their hands. The sink in the employee restroom is the most basic line of defense against transferring pathogens from person to product.
The missing probe thermometer is a quieter but persistent problem. A convenience store selling prepackaged refrigerated items, including the milk gallons referenced in the inspection, has no way to verify cold-holding temperatures without one. Bacterial growth in improperly chilled food can occur without any visible sign that a product has gone bad.
The Longer Record
The January 9 inspection record lists no prior inspections on file for Food Fare under this inspection profile. The store was inspected specifically because it was operating without a valid permit, which suggests this location may be relatively new to the state's inspection database or was flagged before a full operating history had accumulated.
That context matters. A brand-new location with six violations on its first documented inspection, including a permit violation that prompted the inspection itself, is not a facility caught on a bad day after years of clean records. These findings represent the baseline the store was operating at before regulators formally evaluated it.
None of the six violations were marked as repeats, because there was no prior inspection to repeat from. But three of the six violations remained unresolved when inspectors left: the missing probe thermometer, the absence of a certified food protection manager, and the operating-without-a-permit citation, which was contingent on fee payment within ten days of the January 9 visit.
The store had no certified food protection manager on the date of inspection. That requirement exists because someone at the facility needs to be trained and credentialed to recognize food safety risks and respond to them. At Food Fare on January 9, 2026, that person was not there.