ORLANDO, FL. Employees at an Orlando pizza shop were found not reporting symptoms of illness to management during a September 8 inspection, a violation state records classify as one of the leading causes of multi-victim foodborne outbreaks, and the restaurant was allowed to stay open.
I Love NY Pizza and Subs at 6602 Old Winter Garden Rd. drew 8 high-severity violations and 7 intermediate violations from that single inspection. The combination of an illness-reporting failure, inadequate handwashing, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, and toxic chemicals stored or labeled incorrectly put the shop in some of the most serious territory a restaurant can occupy without triggering an emergency closure order.
What Inspectors Found
The illness-reporting violation is the one that makes epidemiologists most nervous. When a food worker with norovirus or another contagious pathogen continues handling food without informing a supervisor, every item they touch becomes a potential exposure vehicle. A pizza shop, where dough, toppings, and finished slices all pass through workers' hands, is a particularly direct transmission environment.
The chemical violations compound the picture. Inspectors cited the shop separately for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and again for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Those are two distinct high-severity findings related to the same category of risk: cleaning agents or other chemicals positioned where they could contaminate food or be mistaken for food-safe products.
Inadequate handwashing and improperly cleaned food contact surfaces appeared alongside food not cooked to the required minimum temperature. Poultry requires an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill Salmonella. Below that threshold, the bacteria survives.
Among the seven intermediate violations, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, a finding that carries its own acute risk. Sewage contains fecal bacteria including E. coli and hepatitis A. An improper disposal setup means that contamination can move through a facility in ways that are not immediately visible to staff or customers.
The Longer Record
The September 8 inspection did not arrive without warning. The shop has 31 inspections on record and 460 total violations accumulated across its history. It has been emergency-closed once before, on the same date as this inspection, September 8, 2026, for roach and fly activity. Inspectors cleared it to reopen the following day, September 9.
That September 9 follow-up inspection, meant to confirm the facility had corrected the pest problems, still produced 5 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations.
The pattern of high-severity findings stretches back through every inspection in the available record. In July 2025, a single inspection turned up 9 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate violations. In April 2024, inspectors found 7 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. The December 2023 inspection produced 3 high and 2 intermediate. There is no inspection in the recent record that came back clean.
Eight of the last eight inspections produced at least 3 high-severity violations each. The lowest tally in that stretch was 3. The highest was 9. The September 8 count of 8 is not an outlier. It is close to the average.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting failure is the violation that most directly affects anyone who ate at the restaurant in the days surrounding the inspection. Norovirus can survive on surfaces and in food for days. A single infected worker who is not removed from food handling can expose dozens of customers before anyone identifies the source. Without a reporting requirement being followed, that chain of exposure has no early break point.
The handwashing and food contact surface violations work together. Hands that are not properly washed transfer bacteria to cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils. Surfaces that are not properly sanitized then transfer those bacteria to the next item placed on them. At I Love NY Pizza and Subs, inspectors found both failures present at the same time, meaning neither safeguard was functioning as a check on the other.
The chemical storage violations carry a different but equally immediate risk. Unlabeled or mislabeled cleaning chemicals stored near food preparation areas can be mistaken for food-safe products, or they can contaminate food through proximity. Chemical poisoning from restaurant exposures is acute, meaning symptoms appear quickly, and it is often misattributed to other causes.
The sewage disposal finding is the one most people would not think to associate with a pizza shop. Improper wastewater handling can introduce fecal pathogens into areas where food is prepared, and those pathogens do not announce themselves. A customer would have no way of knowing.
Still Open
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation did not issue an emergency closure order following the September 8 inspection. Despite 8 high-severity violations, including an illness-reporting failure, two separate chemical hazard citations, inadequate handwashing, and undercooked food, the restaurant continued operating.
It had been emergency-closed earlier the same day for pest activity and cleared to reopen the next morning. The September 9 follow-up inspection confirmed the pest issue was addressed. It also found 5 new high-severity violations.
I Love NY Pizza and Subs at 6602 Old Winter Garden Rd. remained open to the public.
