MIAMI, FL. A state inspector visiting Ichimi on SW 127th Avenue on July 28 found that the restaurant had no documented procedures to prevent parasites from surviving in the fish it serves, a direct risk to customers eating sushi or other raw or lightly cooked seafood. That was one of eleven high-severity violations documented in a single inspection, and the restaurant was not closed.
The July 28 visit produced 11 high-priority citations and 3 intermediate violations, a total of 14 in one inspection. State records show the facility has accumulated 26 total violations across just 3 inspections on record.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction failure is among the most acute risks for a restaurant serving raw fish. Without verified freezing protocols, parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm can survive in fish and infect customers who eat sushi, sashimi, or any lightly cooked seafood.
Alongside that, inspectors cited food from an unapproved or unknown source. That means some ingredient at Ichimi bypassed USDA or FDA inspection entirely. If a customer gets sick, there is no supply chain record to trace it back.
Shellfish records were also inadequate. Oysters, clams, and mussels are among the highest-risk foods served in any restaurant because many customers eat them raw. Without proper shell stock identification tags, there is no way to identify the harvest source if an illness occurs.
The inspector also found that employees were not reporting illness symptoms and that no written employee health policy existed. Both violations were cited as high severity. Separately, inspectors documented improper handwashing technique, meaning that even when workers attempted to wash their hands, the method used was insufficient to remove pathogens.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled. Food was not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Required procedures for specialized processes were not followed.
On the intermediate level, inspectors cited improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is the documented mechanism behind most multi-victim foodborne outbreaks. Norovirus, which causes the majority of food-related illness in the United States, spreads directly from an infected food worker to customers when there is no system requiring sick employees to stay home. At Ichimi, both the policy and the reporting practice were absent.
The parasite destruction failure carries a different but equally direct risk. A restaurant serving raw fish is expected to follow precise freezing protocols that kill parasites before the fish reaches a customer's plate. Anisakis, a parasitic roundworm found in marine fish, can cause severe abdominal pain and require surgical removal if consumed alive. The inspector found those protocols were not being followed.
Food from an unapproved source compounds every other risk on the list. When an ingredient has not passed federal inspection, there is no record of where it came from, how it was handled, or what it may have been exposed to. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli are among the pathogens that federal inspection is designed to screen for. Inadequate shell stock records create the same traceability gap specifically for shellfish, which carry their own acute risks including Vibrio bacteria, which can be fatal in people with liver conditions or compromised immune systems.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep surfaces, are a primary route for cross-contamination in a kitchen serving both raw fish and cooked food. At a sushi restaurant, that risk is heightened by the volume of raw protein handled daily.
The Longer Record
Ichimi has only three inspections on record, making it a relatively new entry in the state's database. But the pattern across those three visits is not reassuring.
The July 28 inspection was the worst by a significant margin, producing 11 high-severity violations. The follow-up inspection the very next day, July 29, still found 2 high-severity violations remaining. A prior inspection in February 2025 found 1 high-severity violation.
The facility has never been emergency-closed. But the jump from 1 high-severity violation in February 2025 to 11 in July 2026 is not a minor fluctuation. It represents a facility where the most serious category of food safety failure became dramatically more common in a short period.
There are no prior closures in the record. That fact, combined with the July 28 findings, means the most serious inspection this restaurant has ever faced did not result in the restaurant being shut down.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented eleven high-severity violations at Ichimi on July 28, including failures in parasite destruction, food sourcing, employee illness reporting, and chemical storage. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
The follow-up inspection on July 29 found two high-severity violations still unresolved.
Ichimi remained open throughout.
