PORT ORANGE, FL. State inspectors visiting Ginza Steak House & Sushi Bar at 5000 Clyde Morris Blvd on May 28 found food from unapproved or unknown sources being used in a restaurant that serves raw fish, oysters, and sushi to the public. Despite six high-severity violations documented that afternoon, the restaurant was not closed.

The unapproved sourcing citation is the kind that draws immediate attention from food safety officials. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection channels has no verified safety history, no traceable origin if a customer gets sick, and no documentation that it was handled correctly before it arrived in a kitchen.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHFood from unapproved or unknown sourceNo USDA/FDA inspection trail
2HIGHInadequate shell stock identification/recordsShellfish traceability failure
3HIGHToxic chemicals improperly stored or labeledPoisoning risk near food
4HIGHFood contact surfaces not properly cleaned/sanitizedCross-contamination vehicle
5HIGHTime as a public health control not properly usedTemperature danger zone exposure
6HIGHImproper hand and arm washing techniquePathogens remain on hands
7INTMulti-use utensils not properly cleanedBacterial biofilm risk
8INTSingle-use items improperly reusedContamination risk

The shellfish citation compounds the sourcing problem. Oysters, clams, and mussels are consumed raw or barely cooked at a restaurant like Ginza, and state law requires that every batch arrive with a tag identifying its harvest location, harvest date, and certified dealer. Without those records, there is no way to trace a shellfish illness back to a specific lot, and no way to pull contaminated product before more customers eat it.

Inspectors also cited toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food. That violation, alongside the unapproved sourcing and shellfish failures, means three of the six high-severity citations involved what went into the food or what was stored near it.

The food contact surface violation rounds out the picture. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and equipment that contact raw fish and then are not properly sanitized become transfer points for bacteria between proteins, between shifts, and between customers.

The two intermediate violations added to the weight of the inspection. Inspectors found multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to form within 24 hours on surfaces that appear visually clean. Single-use items were also being reused, a practice that defeats the contamination barrier those items are designed to create in the first place.

What These Violations Mean

For anyone who ate at Ginza on or before May 28, the unapproved sourcing and shellfish traceability failures are the most consequential findings. A restaurant that sources food outside regulated channels cannot tell health officials where that food came from if a customer develops a foodborne illness. Listeria and Salmonella are the organisms most commonly associated with uninspected food sources, and both can cause serious illness in healthy adults. In a sushi and raw shellfish environment, the margin for error is narrower than in a kitchen serving fully cooked food.

The improper handwashing technique violation matters because it means contamination was not stopped at the most basic intervention point. A worker who goes through the motion of washing hands but uses incorrect technique leaves pathogens on skin that then transfer directly to food. At a sushi bar, where chefs handle raw fish and formed rice with bare or gloved hands that are changed infrequently, that failure travels directly to the plate.

The time-as-a-public-health-control violation is specific to operations that use a documented time log rather than temperature monitoring to track how long food has been in the danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees. When that log is incomplete or the practice is not followed correctly, there is no way to verify whether food has been held safely, and the protective mechanism the restaurant chose to rely on has already failed before anyone checks it.

The Longer Record

The May 28 inspection is not an outlier. Ginza has 27 inspections on record and 226 total violations accumulated across that history. The pattern in recent years is consistent: a clean inspection, then a return visit with a cluster of high-severity findings.

In December 2025, inspectors returned four days after a clean visit and found seven high-severity violations and one intermediate. In April 2024, a single inspection produced 10 high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. November 2023 produced eight high-severity violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed despite that accumulation.

Ginza Steak House: Recent Inspection Pattern

May 20266 high-severity violations. Food from unapproved sources, shellfish traceability failure, chemicals near food. Remained open.
December 2025 (Dec 8)7 high-severity, 1 intermediate. Four days after a clean inspection.
February 20253 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.
November 20244 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.
April 202410 high-severity, 2 intermediate. Single highest-violation inspection on record.
November 20238 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.

What the history shows is a facility that clears violations when inspectors follow up, then returns to high-severity findings at the next substantive inspection. That cycle has repeated across four separate calendar years.

The sourcing and shellfish traceability failures documented in May are not violations that develop overnight. They reflect procurement decisions and recordkeeping practices that exist before an inspector walks through the door.

As of the date of this inspection, Ginza Steak House & Sushi Bar remained open for business.