SOUTH PASADENA, FL. State inspectors found food at Horse & Jockey British Pub and Restaurant on Pasadena Avenue South had not been cooked to the required minimum temperature during a September 10 inspection, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella can survive the cooking process and reach a customer's plate.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate there that day. The inspector also cited employees for failing to report illness symptoms, a violation that public health officials consistently link to multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus and other highly contagious pathogens spread most efficiently when a sick food worker continues handling food without disclosure.
Food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep equipment, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. That means whatever bacteria or residue was left on those surfaces from prior use had a direct path to the next meal prepared on them.
Inspectors also documented improper handwashing technique. The distinction matters: employees may have gone through the motion of washing their hands, but the technique was wrong enough that the inspection record flags it as a violation. Pathogens can survive an incomplete wash.
No person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties. The restaurant was also missing a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items, meaning customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, elderly diners, and young children had no notice that certain dishes carried elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and no consumer advisory is particularly consequential. When food does not reach minimum internal temperatures, heat-resistant pathogens like Salmonella in poultry survive and are served to customers. The consumer advisory requirement exists precisely for those situations where undercooked food is intentional, such as a burger cooked to order or a runny egg. Without that notice, a vulnerable customer has no way to make an informed choice.
The illness-reporting violation compounds the risk. If an employee working while sick does not disclose symptoms, no one in the kitchen can redirect that worker away from food handling. That is the scenario public health agencies describe as the primary driver of restaurant-linked outbreaks.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and flawed handwashing technique are not independent problems. Together, they describe a kitchen where contamination introduced at one step, whether from a sick worker or raw protein, is not reliably intercepted before it reaches a plate.
The absence of a person in charge is what ties the other violations together. CDC data cited in the inspection record indicates that establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of supervised kitchens. On September 10, Horse & Jockey had no one actively enforcing the practices that prevent the other five violations from occurring.
The Longer Record
The September 10 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 35 inspections on file for Horse & Jockey, with 379 total violations documented across that history.
The eight most recent inspections before September 10 all included high-severity violations. The May 1, 2026 inspection logged seven high-severity and two intermediate violations. The November 4, 2024 inspection logged seven high-severity and five intermediate violations. The December 1, 2025 inspection logged six high-severity and three intermediate violations. The pattern does not show a facility that had a bad day.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in those 35 inspections. That means despite a record that includes repeated six- and seven-violation high-severity inspections across 2024, 2025, and 2026, the threshold for an emergency closure order has not been met.
Still Open
Four days after the September 10 inspection, inspectors returned. That September 14 follow-up visit found four high-severity violations and one intermediate violation still on record.
The facility remained open after both visits.
