ODESSA, FL. A state inspector visiting Huey Magoo's Chicken Tenders on Pine Gap Spur on August 19 found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, no written employee health policy, and food left in the temperature danger zone without proper time controls — six high-severity violations in a single inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
State records show the Pasco County location has now accumulated 64 total violations across 11 inspections on record, including a prior emergency closure in December 2025. The August visit matched the same high-severity violation count documented twice before in the facility's history.
What Inspectors Found
The chemical storage violation is among the most acute on the list. Inspectors documented toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled in proximity to food, a condition that can cause acute poisoning through direct contamination or mislabeling of containers.
The facility also had no written employee health policy. That means there was no formal mechanism requiring workers who are sick to stay out of the kitchen. It also means there was no documented protocol for managers to follow if an employee showed symptoms.
Inspectors further found that time was not being properly used as a public health control. At this location, that means food was permitted to sit in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without the tracking required to ensure it was discarded before bacterial growth reached dangerous levels. The handwashing violation compounded that picture: inspectors cited improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning employees may have believed they were washing their hands correctly while leaving pathogens behind.
The shellfish traceability citation was also flagged at the high-severity level. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification or records, meaning if a customer became ill from shellfish, there would be no reliable paper trail to trace the source.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique is one of the most direct routes to a foodborne illness outbreak. Norovirus, which accounts for roughly 20 million cases in the United States each year, spreads primarily through infected food workers who handle ready-to-eat food. A written health policy is the first line of defense. Without one, sick employees have no formal obligation to report symptoms or stay home.
The time-control violation matters because temperature is not the only approved method for keeping food safe. When a facility opts to use time as a control, it accepts responsibility for strict tracking. Food must be discarded after a set window. When that tracking fails, food that has been sitting in the danger zone for hours can reach customers with no indication anything is wrong.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, flagged at the intermediate level, carry their own risk. Bacterial biofilms can develop on utensil surfaces within 24 hours of inadequate cleaning, and those biofilms are significantly harder to eliminate than surface contamination. Sanitizing solutions that would normally kill surface bacteria often cannot penetrate an established biofilm.
The consumer advisory violation is specifically a risk for elderly customers, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Without posted advisories for raw or undercooked items, those customers have no basis to make an informed choice about what they order.
The Longer Record
Huey Magoo's Pine Gap Spur: Inspection Pattern
The August inspection was not an outlier. State records show the Odessa location has now reached six high-severity violations in a single inspection three times: in May 2024, in December 2025, and again in August 2026. The only inspection in the facility's recorded history with zero high or intermediate violations was March 2025, a single clean visit sandwiched between citations on both sides.
The December 2025 inspection led to an emergency closure, though the reason was no restrooms rather than any of the food-safety or chemical violations. The facility reopened the same day. Two months later, in January 2026, inspectors were back and found two more high-severity violations.
The location has been inspected 11 times in total, accumulating 64 violations across that span. The August 2026 visit brought six of those violations at the highest severity level the state assigns short of an emergency closure order.
The restaurant remained open.
