HERNANDO COUNTY, FL. A Taco Bell on Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville was cited last week for having no approved potable water supply, one of two high-severity violations the state recorded at the location during the week of July 25, 2026.
State inspectors covered two facilities in Hernando County that week. Both came back with two high-severity violations apiece and zero intermediate violations between them. Every inspection conducted in the county that week flagged at least two serious concerns.
What Inspectors Found
TACO BELL, CORTEZ BLVD
CHARLEY'S CHEESESTEAKS, S BROAD ST
At Taco Bell on Cortez Boulevard, inspectors documented two violations that cut to the most basic requirements of operating a food service establishment. The first was the absence of an approved potable water supply. The second was the lack of a consumer advisory for any raw or undercooked menu items.
The water finding is the more immediately alarming of the two. A food establishment without a verified potable water source is using water of unknown safety for cooking, cleaning, and handwashing throughout every shift.
The consumer advisory violation is narrower in scope but still carries direct risk. Without posted notice, customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or otherwise vulnerable have no way of knowing a menu item is served raw or undercooked before they order it.
At Charley's Cheesesteaks and Wings on South Broad Street, the two high-severity citations pointed in a different direction. Inspectors found that food contact surfaces were not being properly cleaned or sanitized, and that food was not being cooked to the required minimum internal temperature.
Those two violations together describe a kitchen where bacteria introduced on a cutting board or prep surface can survive and then be served to a customer on undercooked food.
What These Violations Mean
The potable water citation at Taco Bell is among the most serious categories in the state inspection system. Non-potable water can carry E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Legionella, among other pathogens. When that water is used to rinse produce, fill steam tables, or run a dish machine, contamination moves through the entire kitchen without any visible sign. A customer eating a burrito has no way of knowing the water that washed the lettuce inside it was not from an approved supply.
The consumer advisory violation at the same location compounds the risk for specific populations. Elderly diners, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems face a significantly higher likelihood of serious illness from pathogens that a healthy adult might fight off. A posted advisory is not a guarantee of safety, but it is the mechanism the state uses to ensure those customers can make an informed choice. Without it, that choice is made for them.
At Charley's, the failure to cook food to minimum required temperatures is one of the most documented causes of foodborne illness in Florida and nationally. Salmonella in poultry requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be destroyed. A piece of chicken pulled from the heat at 155 or even 160 degrees can carry a viable bacterial load to the table. Paired with improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, the risk compounds: bacteria from a previous prep cycle can transfer to the next item before it even reaches heat.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces are a primary cross-contamination vehicle. Cutting boards, prep tables, and slicers that are not sanitized between uses can transfer raw meat residue, allergens, or bacterial colonies to ready-to-eat food. The combination of that violation with undercooking at Charley's means two of the most common pathogen survival pathways were documented in the same kitchen during the same inspection.
The Longer Record
Context matters when reading a single week of inspection data. A facility with dozens of prior inspections and a recurring pattern of serious violations tells a different story than one caught on a bad day early in its history.
The Taco Bell on Cortez Boulevard has 40 prior inspections on record with the state. That volume of inspections reflects years of operation and a long baseline for comparison. Finding two high-severity violations, including the absence of a potable water supply, at a location with that many prior visits on file raises a question about whether this week's findings represent an isolated lapse or something the inspection record has seen before.
Charley's Cheesesteaks and Wings on South Broad Street carries 37 prior inspections on record. Like the Taco Bell location, it is not a new operation encountering its first scrutiny. Thirty-seven prior inspections represent a substantial history, and two high-severity citations in the same week, covering both cooking temperatures and surface sanitation, place this week's findings against a long backdrop.
Neither facility was ordered closed during the inspection week. Both remained operating after inspectors documented their findings.
The Week in Summary
Two facilities inspected. Two facilities with multiple high-severity violations. No facility in Hernando County cleared the week without a serious citation.
That is a narrow data set, and it would be a mistake to draw sweeping conclusions from two inspections. But within those two inspections, the findings covered four distinct high-severity violation categories: water supply safety, consumer information, surface sanitation, and cooking temperatures. Those are not administrative paperwork failures or minor maintenance items. They are the categories the state flags when a kitchen presents a direct route to a sick customer.
The Taco Bell on Cortez Boulevard, with 40 inspections behind it, was still operating without an approved potable water supply during the week of July 25.
