INGLIS, FL. Back in January 2026, a state inspector walked into Inglis Food Store, a convenience store with a deli operation on the edge of Levy County, and found raw shell eggs sitting on a shelf above pepper rings and fully cooked beef slices inside a food preparation cooler.
That single finding, a priority violation under Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services standards, put ready-to-eat food directly in the path of potential contamination from raw animal product. The eggs were relocated to the bottom shelf before the inspection was complete.
The January 16 inspection turned up 13 violations in total, one of them a priority, and one a repeat from a prior visit.
What Inspectors Found
The deli area generated the bulk of the findings. Employee coffee cups were sitting on a processing table next to a crock pot and a hand wash sink. Wet wiping cloths were left on the counter between uses rather than stored in sanitizing solution. An ice scoop was resting on the side of the ice machine instead of in a clean, designated location.
The inspector also found flat grill scrapers, knives and spatulas wedged between the wall and the back of the ware washing sink. All were removed from service during the inspection.
A grease shield had been stored inside the basin of the hand wash station adjacent to the ware wash sink. The inspector noted the shield was relocated and the sink was sanitized before the visit ended. But no sanitizer test strips could be produced during the inspection, meaning staff had no way to verify that sanitizing solutions were mixed at effective concentrations.
In the back room, broken and damaged floor tiles were documented inside the walk-in cooler. In the retail area, soiled linen was stored on a food service counter near a hand wash station.
The two coolers in the deli had no visible thermometers inside them, though the inspector measured ambient air temperatures of 37 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit.
A Violation That Came Back
The most persistent finding was one the store had seen before. Inspectors recorded that the establishment could not provide a written procedure for responding to the cleanup of a vomiting and diarrheal event. That violation was marked as a repeat, meaning it was cited in a prior inspection as well.
It was not corrected on site.
Of the 13 violations documented in January, the store corrected five during the inspection itself. Eight remained unresolved when the inspector left.
What These Violations Mean
The raw egg storage violation is the kind of finding that draws immediate attention from food safety inspectors because the risk is direct and specific. Raw shell eggs can carry Salmonella. When they are stored above ready-to-eat foods like cooked beef or marinated vegetables, any drip or leakage falls onto food that will not be cooked again before a customer eats it. The violation was corrected at Inglis Food Store during the inspection, but it reflects a storage practice that should not have existed in the first place.
The blocked handwashing sink is a different category of concern. When a grease shield is sitting inside the basin of the only sink designated for hand washing, employees cannot wash their hands without first moving equipment. In a working deli where staff handle raw and cooked products, that barrier matters.
The missing sanitizer test strips mean that even if staff were mixing sanitizing solution, no one could confirm it was strong enough to kill pathogens on food contact surfaces. The strips are the check on the process, and they were not there.
The repeat vomiting and diarrheal event procedure violation is significant because it is not about equipment or temperature. It is about whether staff know what to do if a customer or employee becomes ill on the premises. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness, spreads through contact with contaminated surfaces after such events. A written procedure ensures the cleanup is thorough enough to stop that spread. Inglis Food Store did not have one in January, and had been cited for the same gap before.
The Longer Record
State records show one prior FDACS inspection on file for this location. In July 2024, inspectors documented 23 violations, and the store still met inspection requirements under that visit's standards.
The January 2026 inspection brought 13 violations, a lower total than the prior visit. But the presence of a repeat violation in the same category, the vomiting and diarrheal event procedure, shows that at least one problem identified in 2024 had not been resolved more than a year and a half later.
The store passed both inspections under state standards. Zero violations were corrected on site during the January 2026 visit for the eight that remained open when the inspector departed, including the broken floor tiles in the walk-in cooler and the missing sanitizer test strips in the deli.