PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL. Back in January 2025, a state inspector probed packages of in-store made sushi at Genji Sushi #10194 inside a Palm Beach Gardens grocery location and found internal temperatures ranging from 44 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly three hours after the products had been prepared.
The sushi, which included salmon sashimi, tuna and salmon rolls, and chicken dumplings, had been made at 8:30 a.m. By 11:15 a.m., when the inspector checked them inside an open-air cooler in the retail area, none were holding at a safe temperature.
All of it went into the freezer during the visit.
What Inspectors Found
The temperature violation was not the only problem in the processing area that morning. An employee re-entered the food prep area and began preparing sushi without washing hands before putting on gloves. The inspector observed it, discussed proper handwashing procedure, and watched the employee wash hands during the visit.
A handwashing sink next to the prep sink was also blocked. Trash had been placed directly in front of it. An employee moved it during the inspection.
The inspector also cited a HACCP plan violation. The person in charge calibrated a pH meter using a 4-buffer solution first, then a 7-buffer solution, which is the reverse of what the facility's own HACCP plan requires. The person in charge also failed to add the 4-buffer solution into the cap of the pH meter after measuring rice pH before putting it away. Both steps are part of the written procedure Genji is required to follow.
The sanitation operation log had not been filled out for that day, and the monthly verification of the log had not been completed.
What These Violations Mean
The temperature finding is the most direct public health concern. Sushi-grade fish and other time-and-temperature-controlled foods must be held at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below to slow bacterial growth. At 44 to 50 degrees, products like raw salmon sashimi enter a range where pathogens including Salmonella and Listeria can multiply. The three-hour window between preparation and discovery made that growth window longer.
The HACCP violation is specific to this type of retail seafood operation. Genji prepares sushi in-store under a special process approval from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which requires a written HACCP plan. That plan exists because raw fish preparation carries elevated risk. When the person in charge does not follow the plan's own calibration sequence for a pH meter used on sushi rice, the entire verification system for that product loses reliability.
The handwashing failures compound the temperature problem. An employee who skips handwashing before handling raw fish and then packages it for a retail cooler creates a direct contamination pathway. A blocked handwashing sink makes that lapse more likely to happen again. These are not independent violations. They describe a processing area where multiple controls failed at the same time.
The person in charge not correctly answering questions about foodborne illness symptoms and exclusion policy is also a Priority Foundation violation. That knowledge is what determines whether a sick employee stays out of food preparation. An employee health guide was provided during the visit, but the gap in knowledge was not resolved the same way a blocked sink can be.
The Longer Record
The January 2025 inspection was not an isolated event in Genji Sushi #10194's regulatory history. The facility has 30 inspections on record with the state and has accumulated 138 total violations across that history.
Two of those inspections resulted in emergency closures, the most serious enforcement action available to state inspectors.
The five most recent inspections on record, all occurring after the January 2025 visit, show zero violations each, including focused inspections in October and December 2025 and a preoperational inspection in August 2025. A focused inspection in January 2024, before the violations documented here, also showed zero violations.
That pattern places the January 2025 inspection in a specific context. The facility had a clean record in the visit immediately before this one, and returned to clean records in the visits that followed. But the 138 total violations across 30 inspections, and the two prior emergency closures, indicate this location has had significant compliance problems over its operating history.
Status at the Close of Inspection
Three of the five violations cited on January 6, 2025, were corrected during the inspection itself. The sushi was moved to the freezer. The trash was cleared from in front of the handwashing sink. The employee washed hands.
Two violations were not resolved on site. The person in charge's inability to correctly answer questions about foodborne illness and exclusion policy was documented, and an employee health guide was left with the facility. Whether that knowledge gap was addressed before the next shift is not reflected in the inspection record.
The sanitation operation log for that day remained unfilled at the time inspectors left.
