DAYTONA BEACH, FL. A state inspector walked into Ichi Ni San on South Beach Street on July 29 and found that the restaurant was serving food from an unapproved or unknown source, that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, and that handwashing was failing at nearly every level, from the facilities themselves to the technique used at the sink. Nine high-severity violations were cited that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation stands out at a sushi restaurant. Inspectors documented food from an unapproved or unknown source, meaning some ingredient on the line that day had not passed through the USDA or FDA inspection chain. At a restaurant serving raw fish and shellfish, that matters acutely.
The shellfish traceability violation compounds that concern. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning there was no reliable way to trace where the oysters, clams, or other shellfish came from. If a customer became ill, investigators would have no supplier to contact and no harvest tags to pull.
The handwashing picture was documented three separate ways. Inspectors cited the facilities themselves as inadequate, cited employees for not washing properly, and cited improper technique when washing did occur. That is not one lapse, it is a system that failed at every point.
The inspector also found that the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. At a sushi restaurant, that means customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised were not warned that the food they ordered carried elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting violation is the one that most directly affects everyone who ate at Ichi Ni San that day. When food workers do not report symptoms of illness, an infected employee can transmit norovirus or other pathogens to dozens of customers before anyone realizes there is a problem. It is the mechanism behind most large-scale restaurant outbreaks.
The three handwashing violations, taken together, describe a kitchen where contamination moved freely from surface to surface and from hands to food. Improper technique leaves pathogens on hands even when a worker believes they have washed. Inadequate facilities mean workers may not have had a properly stocked, accessible sink to use at all.
Food from an unapproved source means the ingredient bypassed the federal inspection system that screens for Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens. At a restaurant where raw fish is the primary product, the traceability gap is not a paperwork problem. It is the difference between identifying a contamination source quickly and not identifying it at all.
The time-as-public-health-control violation means food was held in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without the temperature monitoring or time tracking that state rules require as a substitute safeguard. Bacteria double roughly every 20 minutes in that range.
The Longer Record
The July 29 inspection does not represent a new low for this restaurant. It represents a pattern that state records have documented across 30 inspections and 297 total violations.
In October 2025, inspectors cited 11 high-severity violations. In December 2024, they cited 11 high-severity violations again, along with 5 intermediate. April 2025 produced 9 high-severity violations, the same count as July 29. The restaurant has logged 9 or more high-severity violations in a single inspection at least four times in the past two years.
The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice. On May 27, 2026, inspectors shut it down for rodent activity. It reopened the same day. In August 2019, inspectors closed it again for roach and rodent activity. That closure also lasted a single day.
The day after the July 29 inspection, a follow-up visit on July 30 found 3 high-severity violations still present.
Still Open
State records show Ichi Ni San was not emergency-closed after the July 29 inspection, despite 9 high-severity violations that included food from an unknown source, no illness reporting system, and three distinct handwashing failures.
The restaurant has accumulated 297 violations across 30 inspections. It has been closed twice, both times for a single day.
On July 30, a follow-up inspector left with 3 high-severity violations still on the books.
