PALMETTO, FL. A state inspector visiting Jaxx Playbook Sportsbar and Grill on Hasko Road on July 22 found that the kitchen was not following parasite destruction procedures, meaning fish, pork, or wild game served there could reach a customer's plate with live parasites intact.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation means the restaurant was not properly freezing or cooking fish, pork, or wild game before serving it. State rules require specific time-and-temperature combinations to kill organisms like Anisakis worms in fish and Trichinella in pork. When those steps are skipped, parasites can survive to the plate.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That violation creates a direct contamination path: a mislabeled container, a spill near a prep surface, or a cleaning product placed above food can introduce compounds that cause acute poisoning with no visible sign of contamination.
Food contact surfaces, including cutting boards, slicers, and prep tables, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Those surfaces are among the most direct routes for bacterial transfer between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
The inspector also cited improper use of time as a public health control. When a kitchen uses time rather than temperature to manage food safety, food is permitted to sit in the bacterial growth range of 41 to 135 degrees for a defined window, typically four hours. If that window is not tracked correctly, the food becomes a growth medium for pathogens with no visible indication anything is wrong.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items on its menu. That notice exists specifically to warn elderly customers, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system that certain menu items carry elevated risk.
The facility also lacked an adequate employee health policy and had documented improper handwashing technique. Those two violations together mean sick workers may not know they are required to stay home, and that even workers who attempt to wash their hands may still carry pathogens to food.
The intermediate violation involved improper sewage or wastewater disposal, which state records flag as a fecal contamination risk throughout a facility.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the most acute risk from this inspection. Anisakis larvae in undercooked fish cause anisakiasis, a condition that produces severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, and requires medical treatment. Trichinella in undercooked pork causes trichinellosis, which can progress to muscle inflammation and cardiac complications in serious cases. Neither condition is visible in the food.
The combination of no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique is how Norovirus spreads through a restaurant dining room. A sick employee with no policy telling them to stay home, using a flawed handwashing technique that leaves pathogens on their hands, is a documented transmission chain for one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces compound every other violation. If a cutting board used for raw fish is not properly sanitized before it is used for vegetables or bread, every subsequent item that touches it carries whatever was on the fish. That risk multiplies when parasite destruction is also failing.
The sewage disposal violation adds a separate contamination pathway entirely. Improper wastewater handling introduces fecal bacteria into a facility environment where food is being prepared.
The Longer Record
The July 22 inspection was the 23rd on record for Jaxx Playbook. Across those 23 inspections, state records show 133 total violations accumulated. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent prior inspection, on February 4 of this year, produced five high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. The inspection before that, in July 2025, found two high-severity and four intermediate violations. Going back further, the March 2023 inspection produced four high-severity violations, and the October 2023 visit found three.
There is only one inspection in the recent history with zero high-severity violations: January 17, 2023. Every other documented visit found at least one high-severity citation. Seven of the last eight inspections produced high-severity violations.
The July 22 count of seven high-severity violations is the highest single-inspection total in the facility's recent record, surpassing the five found in February.
Still Open
State inspectors have discretion to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. On July 22, with seven high-severity violations documented at Jaxx Playbook, including parasite destruction failures, toxic chemicals near food, and a sewage disposal problem, inspectors did not exercise that option.
The restaurant remained open.
