WINDERMERE, FL. State inspectors visited Fortuna Bakery at 5855 Winter Garden Vineland Road on July 10 and found that the bakery had no written employee health policy, meaning sick workers had no formal obligation to report symptoms before handling food that went directly to customers.
That finding was one of six high-severity violations documented during the inspection. The facility was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The illness-related violations came as a pair. Inspectors cited the bakery both for lacking a written employee health policy and for employees not reporting illness symptoms. Together, those two findings mean the facility had neither the written framework nor the actual practice of keeping sick workers away from food preparation.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique. This is distinct from not washing hands at all. It means workers were going through the motions of handwashing but doing so incorrectly, leaving pathogens on their hands before touching food, surfaces, and equipment.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled at the bakery. The inspector did not specify which chemicals or where they were located relative to food, but the violation category covers situations where cleaning agents or other hazardous substances are kept in proximity to food prep areas or in containers that could cause them to be mistaken for food-safe products.
The remaining high-severity violations involved parasite destruction procedures and consumer advisory. Parasite destruction requires that certain raw fish and pork products be frozen or cooked to specific temperatures to kill organisms including Anisakis and Trichinella. The consumer advisory violation means customers ordering raw or undercooked items, such as certain pastries or dishes with undercooked eggs, were not warned of the associated risks.
Three intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities, and equipment in poor repair. The sewage finding is particularly significant because improper wastewater handling can introduce fecal contamination into a food preparation environment.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms creates a direct pathway for Norovirus transmission. Norovirus spreads through food handled by infected workers and can sicken dozens of people from a single exposure. A written health policy is the mechanism that legally and practically obligates workers to stay home or be removed from food handling when they are ill. Without it, there is no documented standard and no accountability.
The improper handwashing technique violation compounds that risk. Studies consistently show that even well-intentioned handwashing, done incorrectly, fails to remove key pathogens. At a bakery where workers handle dough, pastry fillings, and finished products with their hands, technique is not a minor procedural detail.
The toxic chemical storage violation carries a separate and acute risk. Mislabeled or improperly stored chemicals near food can cause poisoning that mimics foodborne illness, is difficult to trace, and can be severe. Customers who ate at Fortuna Bakery on or around July 10 had no way of knowing chemicals were stored in a manner that inspectors flagged as dangerous.
The sewage disposal violation adds a layer that is harder to see but serious. Raw sewage contains bacteria including E. coli and Salmonella. Improper disposal in a food preparation facility means those pathogens have a route into the environment where food is made.
The Longer Record
The July 10 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Fortuna Bakery has been inspected 17 times and has accumulated 118 total violations. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity violations goes back at least three years. Inspectors found four high-severity violations in February 2026, four more in October 2025, two in March 2025, and three in April 2024. The July 2026 inspection, with six high-severity violations, is the worst single inspection in that run.
The bakery did post three consecutive clean inspections in late 2023, between October 17 and December 21, with zero high-severity violations across two of those three visits. That stretch makes the subsequent deterioration harder to explain as a facility that simply never understood the standards.
The October 2023 inspection found four high-severity violations. A follow-up the next day found none. That pattern, a bad inspection followed by a clean one, has not held in the years since. The four inspections from April 2024 through February 2026 each produced between two and four high-severity violations. The July 2026 visit produced six.
Still Open
State inspectors documented six high-severity violations at Fortuna Bakery on July 10, including findings that inspectors classify as outbreak enablers and chemical poisoning risks.
The bakery was not closed.
Customers who visited on or after that date were not notified of the inspection findings, and no public health advisory was issued. The violations are part of the public record at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
