ST. PETERSBURG, FL. Inspectors who walked into Forbici on Second Avenue North on September 14 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means some of what was served that day bypassed every federal safety inspection designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli before it reaches a plate.
That was one of eight high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish violation compounds the sourcing problem. State records show inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning oysters, clams, or mussels served at Forbici could not be traced back to a certified harvester or processor. Shellfish are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and without that paper trail, there is no way to identify the source if a diner gets sick.
Inspectors also documented that time as a public health control was not properly used. When a restaurant opts to track time instead of temperature to keep food safe, the rules are precise: food held in the temperature danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees must be discarded within four hours. The records do not show those rules were being followed.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, leaving diners with no written warning that items on the menu carried elevated risk.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Employees were observed using improper handwashing technique. There was no written employee health policy. And no person in charge was present or performing managerial duties during the inspection.
Three intermediate violations rounded out the report: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, wiping cloths used improperly, and toilet facilities that were inadequate or improperly maintained.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation is the one with the longest reach. When food enters a restaurant through unapproved or unknown channels, it has not passed through the USDA or FDA inspection systems built to detect contamination at the source. If a customer gets sick, investigators have no supply chain to trace. The shellfish records violation is a direct extension of that problem: oysters and clams are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen because they are often eaten raw, and the tag system exists precisely so that a single contaminated harvest can be pulled before it sickens more people.
The employee health policy violation is a different category of risk. Without a written policy, there is no formal mechanism to keep a worker with Norovirus symptoms out of the kitchen. Norovirus accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and direct transmission from food handler to customer is one of the most documented routes. The improper handwashing technique violation makes that risk concrete: even when an employee attempts to wash their hands, the wrong technique leaves pathogens behind.
The absence of a person in charge performing managerial duties is not a paperwork problem. CDC data links the lack of active managerial control to three times as many critical violations in a given inspection. Every other violation on this list becomes more likely when no one is running the floor with food safety authority.
The Longer Record
Forbici has two inspections on record in state data. The first, on June 5, 2026, found zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations. The September 14 inspection found eight high and three intermediate, for a total of eleven violations in a single visit.
That is not a gradual drift. That is a restaurant that passed a clean inspection in June and returned eleven violations three months later.
The facility has never been emergency-closed. The twelve total violations on record are entirely from this September inspection, since the June visit produced none.
What the record does not show is any pattern of incremental decline or repeated citations in the same categories over time. There is only a clean inspection and then, three months later, a report that documented sourcing failures, traceability gaps, handwashing breakdowns, and no manager on duty.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented eight high-severity violations at Forbici on September 14, 2026. The violations included food from unapproved sources, shellfish with no traceability records, and no person in charge present to oversee operations.
The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
