ORLANDO, FL. An inspector visiting Giordano's on Sand Lake Road on August 5 found that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness before handling food, a violation that state health records classify as the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks, and the restaurant was not closed.
That single violation, combined with five other high-severity citations and five intermediate ones logged during the same inspection, puts the Sand Lake location among the more seriously cited food service operations in Orange County this year. The facility remained open after inspectors left.
What Inspectors Found
The illness reporting failure was the lead citation. Inspectors documented that employees were not following the requirement to report symptoms before working with food, a breakdown that state records identify as the primary driver of norovirus and other foodborne illness outbreaks that affect multiple customers at once.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited on the same visit. Inspectors found both that the facility's handwashing infrastructure was inadequate and that employees were using improper technique even when attempting to wash. Those two citations together mean that even when workers tried to clean their hands, the process was failing.
Toxic substances were found to be improperly identified, stored, or used. That citation, combined with the finding that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, means that both chemical and biological contamination pathways were open simultaneously during the August 5 visit.
The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items. Giordano's serves deep-dish pizza, but the citation indicates the menu includes items that require disclosure, and customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, or elderly diners had no notice.
On the intermediate side, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and toilet facilities that were inadequate or improperly maintained. That is a full sweep of the facility's basic sanitation infrastructure.
What These Violations Mean
The illness reporting failure is the violation that public health officials most associate with outbreaks that send people to hospitals. When a food worker with norovirus, salmonella, or hepatitis A continues working without reporting symptoms, that worker becomes a direct transmission route. A single infected employee handling food can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
The two handwashing violations compound that risk. Inadequate handwashing facilities means the physical infrastructure, soap, running water, accessible sinks, was not up to standard. Improper technique means that even where facilities existed, the washing was not effective. Studies consistently show that improper handwashing leaves significant pathogen loads on hands. At Giordano's Sand Lake on August 5, both failures were present at the same time.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces are a separate and independent contamination pathway. Cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that are not properly sanitized transfer bacteria directly to the next food item prepared on them. Combined with the finding that multi-use utensils were also not properly cleaned, inspectors documented two overlapping routes for bacterial transfer in the same kitchen.
The sewage and wastewater citation carries the most viscerally alarming implication. Improper sewage disposal creates the risk of fecal contamination spreading through a facility. That citation, alongside the inadequate toilet facilities finding, points to a restroom and waste infrastructure that was not functioning as required on the day of inspection.
The Longer Record
The August 5 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 37 inspections on file for the Sand Lake Road location, with 281 total violations documented across that history.
The eight most recent inspections before August 5 show a consistent pattern. The September 2024 visit produced four high-severity and two intermediate violations. The location was inspected three times in March 2025 alone, producing four high-severity violations on March 12, two high and one intermediate on March 14, and one high and one intermediate on March 18. The April 2025 visit added three more high-severity citations. By September 2025, inspectors were back again with four high and three intermediate violations. The February 2026 inspection produced four high-severity and seven intermediate violations.
August 5, 2026, with six high-severity violations, was the worst single-visit count in that recent stretch.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. The day after the August 5 inspection, a follow-up visit on August 6 found one high-severity and one intermediate violation still present.
The Longer Record in Numbers
Giordano's Sand Lake Road has accumulated 281 violations across 37 inspections. That averages to more than seven violations per inspection visit. The six high-severity citations logged on August 5 represent the peak of a pattern that has included high-severity violations at every single inspection in the available recent record.
The restaurant has never been closed by emergency order.
It was open for business on August 5, 2026, when inspectors documented that employees were not reporting illness symptoms and that toxic substances were improperly stored. It was open when inspectors left. It remained open the following day, when a follow-up visit still found a high-severity violation on the premises.
