GROVELAND, FL. A state inspection of Hardee's at 266 W Broad St on August 5, 2026 found food being served from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means inspectors could not confirm whether that food had ever passed a federal safety inspection.
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The August 5 inspection produced 6 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, a total of 12 citations across the two most serious categories the state tracks.
Among the high-severity findings: toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near the food operation. Employees were not reporting symptoms of illness. Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep counters and utensils that touch everything served to customers, were not being properly cleaned or sanitized.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique, meaning employees were going through the motions of washing their hands without actually removing pathogens. The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
On the intermediate side, inspectors found improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, single-use items being reused, poor ventilation and lighting, improper waste disposal, and inadequate toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is not a paperwork problem. When food enters a restaurant from a source that has not been inspected and approved by the USDA or FDA, there is no chain of documentation connecting that food to a safety check. If a customer gets sick, investigators have no record to trace. Listeria and Salmonella are the pathogens most commonly linked to uninspected food supply chains.
The illness-reporting failure carries its own direct risk. Food workers who do not report symptoms of illness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, are the documented leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, which spreads person-to-person with remarkable efficiency, can move from a single sick employee to dozens of customers in a single shift.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces compound both of those risks. Bacteria from an uninspected food source, or from a sick employee's hands, can live on a cutting board or prep counter and transfer directly to the next item placed on it.
Toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food represent a categorically different danger. Mislabeled chemicals have been mistaken for food ingredients. Chemicals stored above or near food preparation areas can drip, spill, or aerosolize into food without anyone noticing until a customer reports symptoms.
The Longer Record
The August 2026 inspection is not an anomaly. State records show 27 inspections on file for this location, with 278 total violations documented across that history.
The most recent prior inspection, on February 6, 2026, found 6 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. The inspection before that, in August 2025, found 5 high and 2 intermediate. January 2025 produced 4 high and 3 intermediate.
The pattern holds further back. In August 2024, two inspections in the same month found 7 high violations in one visit and 1 high in the other. February 2024 produced two more inspections: one with 4 high violations and one with 8 high and 7 intermediate. The July 2023 inspection found 5 high and 2 intermediate.
Eight consecutive inspections, across more than three years, each produced high-severity violations. The location has never been emergency-closed.
The Pattern Behind the Numbers
The categories repeat. Employee illness reporting, handwashing failures, and food contact surface sanitation have each appeared in multiple inspection cycles at this location. These are not isolated lapses caught once and corrected. They are findings that inspectors have returned to document again.
A facility with 278 violations across 27 inspections averages more than 10 violations per visit. The August 2026 inspection, with 12 total, is consistent with that average.
State inspectors visited the Groveland Hardee's on August 5, 2026, documented six high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source and toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, and left the restaurant open for business.
