ORLANDO, FL. An inspector visiting Hungry Howie's at 11774 E. Colonial Drive on August 25, 2026 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, and no person in charge present or performing duties, among a total of eight high-severity violations. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food temperature violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate there that day. Inspectors cited the restaurant for failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures, a violation that means pathogens including Salmonella in poultry can survive and reach a customer's plate.
The toxic chemicals violation compounds that risk. Chemicals stored improperly near food or without correct labeling create a contamination pathway that can cause acute poisoning. A customer would have no way of knowing.
Food contact surfaces were also cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep tables, and other surfaces that touch food directly become transfer points for bacteria when they are not sanitized between uses.
No person in charge was present or performing duties at the time of the inspection. That single condition sets the stage for every other violation on the list.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking violation is one the CDC tracks as a leading direct cause of foodborne illness outbreaks. Salmonella survives in poultry below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a pizza shop, that means dough toppings, chicken, and other proteins that do not reach temperature can deliver a live pathogen load to a customer. The risk is highest for the elderly, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system.
The absence of an employee health policy means no written procedure exists to keep sick workers out of food preparation. Norovirus, one of the most contagious foodborne pathogens, spreads directly from an infected food handler to prepared food. Without a policy, a worker with symptoms has no formal obligation to report illness or stay home.
The parasite destruction and shell stock traceability violations are unusual for a pizza chain and raise questions about what ingredients were in use. Parasite destruction procedures apply when fish, pork, or wild game are served raw or undercooked. Shell stock identification records exist so that if customers get sick from oysters, clams, or mussels, health officials can trace the harvest back to its source. Without those records, an outbreak investigation hits a dead end.
The sanitizer violation, listed as intermediate, works in combination with the food contact surface violation. If surfaces are not cleaned and the sanitizer solution applied to them is also at the wrong concentration, pathogens on prep surfaces are never eliminated.
The Longer Record
The August 25 inspection was not an aberration. State records show 26 inspections on file for this location, with 215 total violations accumulated across that history.
The pattern in recent years is consistent. Inspectors found six high-severity violations on September 2, 2024, five high-severity violations on April 8, 2025, and six high-severity violations on November 6, 2025. The August 25, 2026 inspection, with eight high-severity violations, is the worst single inspection in the recent run but not an outlier in category.
A follow-up inspection the next day, August 26, found six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations still present. That means the day after the worst inspection on record for this location, six serious violations remained.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history.
Still Open
State inspectors returned on September 2, 2026, and found one high-severity violation and one intermediate violation. The location remained open throughout, including during the period between August 25 and the September 2 follow-up when six high-severity violations were still on the books.
Customers who ordered from the East Colonial Drive location on or around August 25 had no notice that food was not being cooked to required temperatures, that toxic chemicals were improperly stored near food, or that no manager was on duty to oversee any of it.
The restaurant was not closed.
