AUGUSTINE, FL. Back in March 2026, state inspectors returned to Food Mart on Augustine and found the same problem they had documented four times before: the convenience store was still operating without a valid food permit.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspection on March 31 recorded two violations, including one priority violation. The inspector's own notation was direct: "This food establishment is currently operating without a valid food permit."
That finding alone would be notable. But the second violation made it more serious.
What Inspectors Found
Food Mart: Inspection History, Feb–Mar 2026
The priority violation cited on March 31 concerned sewage disposal. The inspector noted that the store "did not provide written documentation for approved waste water system," meaning inspectors could not confirm that the facility's sewage was being handled through a system that meets state standards.
Neither violation was corrected on site.
The sewage finding was flagged as a priority violation, the most serious classification in the FDACS inspection system. The permit violation carried a severity level of five under Florida Statute 500.12.
The Longer Record
The March 31 inspection was not a one-time failure. It was the fifth consecutive FDACS inspection at this location to document that Food Mart was operating without a valid food permit.
The first of those visits on record came on February 4, 2026, when inspectors found three violations, including one repeat violation. That re-inspection was required, as were all four that followed. The store was cited again on February 20, then on March 4, then on March 11, and finally on March 31, each time for the same core failure: no valid food permit.
The February 4 inspection is particularly significant. A repeat violation that early in the documented sequence means the permit issue had already been flagged before that visit, and the store still had not come into compliance. Every inspection since has required a follow-up.
None of the violations across any of the five inspections were recorded as corrected on site.
What These Violations Mean
Operating without a valid food permit is not a paperwork technicality. A food permit is the mechanism through which state regulators verify that a facility has met baseline requirements for safe food handling, storage, and sanitation before it is allowed to sell food to the public. When a store operates without one, those baseline requirements have not been formally confirmed.
For shoppers at a convenience store selling prepackaged goods, that matters in a specific way. Even prepackaged food requires proper storage conditions, temperature controls in some cases, and a facility that has passed the inspections required to hold a permit. Without a valid permit, there is no current state verification that those conditions exist.
The sewage violation is a separate concern. Approved waste water systems are required to ensure that sewage from a food establishment is handled in a way that does not create contamination risks. When a facility cannot provide written documentation of an approved system, inspectors have no way to confirm that standard is being met. The fact that this was flagged as a priority violation reflects the potential for sewage handling failures to create direct public health hazards.
Together, the two violations from March 31 describe a store that was selling food to customers without a current state permit and without documented proof that its waste water was being disposed of safely.
Still Unresolved
The March 31 inspection closed with a re-inspection required notation, the same outcome as every prior visit since at least February 4. The violations were not corrected during the inspection.
What the record shows is five visits over roughly eight weeks, each one documenting the same unlicensed operation, each one requiring a follow-up. The priority sewage violation, added to the March 31 report, had not appeared in the four prior inspection summaries, suggesting it was either a new finding or one that became documentable only at that visit.
Food Mart had accumulated five consecutive failed inspections, a priority violation tied to its waste water system, and zero on-site corrections across all of them by the time March ended.