WINTER GARDEN, FL. State inspectors visiting Habibi Lebanese Grill on West Colonial Drive on April 30 found that the restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures for fish, a failure that means customers may have eaten seafood harboring live parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm. That was one of seven high-severity violations documented at the Winter Garden location. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection also turned up toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food in poor condition or mislabeled, no written employee health policy, and no person in charge present or performing duties. Three intermediate violations accompanied the seven high-severity findings, including inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, toilet facilities in inadequate condition, and equipment in poor repair.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction violation is among the most specific risks in the April 30 report. Fish served without proper freezing or cooking can carry Anisakis, a parasitic roundworm that burrows into the stomach lining and causes severe abdominal pain, or tapeworm larvae capable of migrating to other organs. The procedures exist precisely because the parasites are not visible to the naked eye and are not killed by refrigeration alone.
The toxic chemical finding compounds the concern. Chemicals stored near or improperly labeled around food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers create the risk that a substance gets used in place of something else. Neither scenario requires a large quantity to cause harm.
The absence of a person in charge performing duties is not a paperwork violation. CDC data cited in the inspection record links establishments without active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations. On April 30 at Habibi Lebanese Grill, six other high-severity problems were documented in that environment.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and improper handwashing technique at a single facility on a single inspection day describes a complete breakdown in the most basic barrier between a sick food worker and a customer's plate. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads most efficiently through exactly this route: an infected worker who does not report symptoms, handles food, and does not wash hands correctly.
Inadequate cooling equipment is not a mechanical inconvenience. When refrigeration cannot hold food at or below 41 degrees Fahrenheit, bacteria including Salmonella and Listeria multiply rapidly. The inspection record notes the equipment itself was in poor repair, meaning the failure was not a temporary malfunction but a condition inspectors could observe.
Food documented as being in poor condition or mislabeled carries its own distinct risk. If an item is spoiled, a customer cannot know it from appearance alone. If it is mislabeled, a customer with a food allergy has no reliable information about what they are eating.
The Longer Record
The April 30 inspection was not the first time Habibi Lebanese Grill has drawn serious scrutiny. State records show 26 inspections on file for the location, with 194 total violations accumulated across that history.
Seven of the eight most recent inspections in the available record produced high-severity violations. The October 2025 inspection found five high-severity and two intermediate violations. The January 2025 inspection found the same: five high, two intermediate. The September 2024 inspection matched that count again. The February 2024 inspection produced seven high-severity violations with no intermediate violations.
The September 2023 inspection stands out in the prior record. Inspectors documented 10 high-severity violations in a single visit, the highest single-inspection count in the data provided. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history.
The one exception in recent years was June 2025, when inspectors found zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. That result sits between two inspections, in January 2025 and October 2025, each of which produced five high-severity violations. It is the only clean inspection in a run of eight visits that otherwise produced between five and ten high-severity findings per visit.
The Pattern
The April 30 visit produced seven high-severity violations, matching the February 2024 total and falling just below the 2023 peak of ten. The categories on the April 30 report, including management absence, illness reporting failures, and handwashing deficiencies, overlap with the types of violations that have appeared repeatedly across multiple inspection cycles at this location.
The restaurant remained open after the April 30 inspection.