BOCA RATON, FL. Back in January 2026, before Frank's Authentic Juice Co could open its doors as a perishable food processor in Boca Raton, state inspectors arrived for a preoperational inspection and found the person in charge unable to answer basic questions about foodborne illness, its symptoms, or what to do when an employee gets sick.
That single finding set the tone for the rest of the visit. Inspectors from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services logged 10 violations in total, four of them marked as priority foundation violations, meaning they relate directly to the knowledge and systems that underpin safe food handling. None were corrected on site.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector's notes on the person-in-charge violations were direct. The person in charge was unable to ensure that food employees were informed in a verifiable manner to report their illness and symptoms related to diseases that are transmissible through food. That same individual was also unable to correctly respond to questions relating to foodborne disease and symptoms that may cause foodborne disease, and was unable to relate to conditions of restriction and exclusion.
The facility also had no written procedures for handling accidental vomiting and diarrheal incidents, and no chemical sanitizer test kit on the premises to verify that sanitizing solutions were mixed to the correct concentration.
The physical setup of the backroom processing area raised its own concerns. The reach-in cooler in the processing area was missing a thermometer, meaning there was no way to verify that perishable products were being held at safe temperatures. The three-compartment sink had no drain board installed and was missing a drain plug, both of which are required for proper dishwashing and equipment sanitation.
The restroom door had no self-closer installed, a requirement when a toilet room opens into a food-handling area. No covered trash receptacle was provided in the unisex restroom. And the facility had no certified food protection manager on staff.
What These Violations Mean
The four priority foundation violations at Frank's Authentic Juice Co are not paperwork problems. They describe a facility where the person responsible for food safety could not demonstrate, to an inspector's satisfaction, that employees knew when to report being sick or how to recognize symptoms of illnesses that spread through food.
For a juice processor, that gap is particularly significant. Products like fresh-pressed or minimally processed juices are often consumed without any further cooking step that might kill pathogens. If a sick employee handles product and the person in charge does not know the rules for restricting or excluding ill workers, there is no functional barrier between that employee and the customer.
The absence of written cleanup procedures for vomiting and diarrheal incidents compounds that risk. Those procedures exist specifically to contain norovirus and similar pathogens that can survive on surfaces and contaminate food contact areas. Without a written protocol, staff have no standard guidance to follow if an incident occurs.
The missing sanitizer test kit is a separate but related problem. At a food processing facility, the three-compartment sink is where equipment and utensils are washed, rinsed, and sanitized. Without a test kit, there is no way to confirm that the sanitizing solution is strong enough to actually kill pathogens rather than simply rinse surfaces with diluted chemical.
The Longer Record
The January 27, 2026 inspection was a preoperational visit, meaning it was conducted before the facility was cleared to begin operations as a licensed food processor. That context matters. The violations documented were not found during routine oversight of an established business. They were found at the threshold, before the facility had formally opened.
A preoperational inspection is designed to confirm that a new facility has the equipment, procedures, and trained personnel in place to handle food safely from day one. Frank's Authentic Juice Co did not meet those requirements on the first attempt.
The inspection record on file reflects this single visit. There is no prior inspection history to indicate whether these deficiencies had been flagged before or whether this was the first time the facility had been evaluated. What the record does show is that on the day inspectors arrived to clear the facility for operation, 10 violations were documented and none were corrected before the inspection concluded.
The facility was recorded as not meeting preoperational inspection requirements. Whether a follow-up inspection was subsequently conducted to verify corrections is not reflected in the data from this visit.