MERRITT ISLAND, FL. Food was not cooked to the required minimum temperature at Island Gecko Grill on North Courtenay Parkway when a state inspector walked through on September 30, 2026, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella in poultry can survive and reach a customer's plate.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented in a single inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food violation was not the only one with direct consequences for what reached a customer's table. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, a failure that makes cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils a direct transfer point for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat food.
Toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled, placing cleaning agents in proximity to food prep areas. Mislabeled or misplaced chemicals are a documented route to acute poisoning.
The restaurant also lacked adequate shellfish identification records. Island Gecko Grill serves shellfish, and without proper shell stock tags, there is no way to trace oysters, clams, or mussels back to their harvest source if a customer gets sick.
Inspectors found no written employee health policy and documented improper handwashing technique among staff. Both violations compound each other: a sick employee with no policy requiring them to stay home, washing their hands incorrectly, is a direct transmission route for Norovirus and other pathogens.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Customers who ordered anything served below minimum safe temperature had no notice that they were doing so.
What These Violations Mean
Undercooking is not a minor procedural gap. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single serving of undercooked chicken can cause an illness serious enough to require hospitalization. At Island Gecko Grill on September 30, inspectors found that food was not reaching required temperatures, and no consumer advisory told customers that anything on the menu carried that risk.
The shellfish traceability failure is a separate and serious problem. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water. When a restaurant cannot produce shell stock identification records, health investigators have no way to pinpoint a harvest location if an outbreak of Vibrio or Hepatitis A is traced back to the establishment.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces are what investigators call a primary cross-contamination vehicle. A cutting board used for raw protein and not properly sanitized before the next use can transfer Salmonella, Listeria, or E. coli directly onto produce or cooked food. Combined with the improper handwashing technique documented on the same day, the kitchen had two active cross-contamination pathways operating simultaneously.
The absence of an employee health policy means there is no written requirement for sick workers to report illness or stay off the line. That gap matters most for Norovirus, which is highly contagious and spreads rapidly in food service settings. The combination of no policy, poor handwashing technique, and no consumer advisory left customers at Island Gecko Grill without protection at three separate points in the food handling chain.
The Longer Record
The September 30 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Island Gecko Grill has been inspected 29 times and has accumulated 224 total violations across its history.
The most direct comparison is September 25, 2025, exactly one year earlier, when inspectors cited the restaurant for 7 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. The September 30, 2026 inspection matched that high-severity count exactly.
The pattern between those two dates tells the same story. On August 5, 2024, inspectors found 6 high-severity violations. On January 15, 2025, they found 5 high-severity violations. On March 17, 2026, they found 4 high-severity violations. The numbers fluctuate, but high-severity citations have appeared in six of the eight most recent inspection cycles on record.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. A follow-up visit on October 8, 2026, eight days after the September 30 inspection, found 2 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation, a reduction but not a clean bill of health.
Still Open
State inspectors documented seven high-severity violations at Island Gecko Grill on September 30, including undercooked food, no shellfish traceability, improperly stored toxic chemicals, contaminated food contact surfaces, improper handwashing, no employee health policy, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items.
The restaurant served customers that day, and every day since.
