ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL. Inspectors who walked into Jerry's Pizza & Subs on West SR 436 on July 7 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, and employees using handwashing technique so flawed it leaves pathogens on their hands even after they attempt to wash them. The restaurant was not closed.
The July 7 inspection produced six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. Under Florida's inspection framework, high-severity violations are those most directly linked to foodborne illness and injury.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious documented. When food enters a kitchen from an unapproved or unknown supplier, it has bypassed the USDA and FDA inspection systems designed to screen for Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens. If someone gets sick, there is no traceability back to the source.
Two separate chemical violations were cited on the same visit. Inspectors documented both improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals and the improper identification, storage, or use of toxic substances. Chemicals near food or on unlabeled containers represent a direct poisoning risk, not a theoretical one.
The handwashing violation compounds every other finding on the list. When technique is flawed, the act of washing hands does not actually remove pathogens. That means contamination from food, surfaces, or chemicals can transfer directly to anything an employee touches afterward.
Food contact surfaces were also found not properly cleaned or sanitized, and multi-use utensils were cited under the intermediate category for the same failure. The restaurant was additionally cited for having no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, which means customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and children had no way to make an informed choice about what they ordered.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is not a paperwork problem. It means that at least some of what was being served at Jerry's on July 7 came through a supply chain with no verified safety checkpoints. If an ingredient harbored Listeria or Salmonella, there would be no way to trace it after the fact.
The two chemical violations together describe a kitchen where toxic substances were not properly separated, labeled, or controlled. A mislabeled chemical container or a cleaning product stored near a food prep surface can contaminate food without any visible sign. Acute chemical poisoning from restaurant food is rare precisely because these rules exist.
The handwashing technique violation matters because it renders the handwashing sink nearly irrelevant. Employees who wash incorrectly, not long enough, not thoroughly enough, or without covering all surfaces of the hand, leave the sink still carrying whatever they brought to it. Combined with improperly sanitized food contact surfaces and wiping cloths used in ways that spread rather than clean contamination, the inspection describes a kitchen where multiple standard barriers against foodborne illness were not functioning on the same day.
The Longer Record
The July 7 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Jerry's Pizza & Subs has been inspected 19 times and has accumulated 134 total violations across that history, with zero emergency closures.
The two inspections immediately before July 7 produced identical violation counts: six high-severity and two intermediate violations on June 22, and six high-severity and two intermediate violations on April 20. Three consecutive inspections, each with the same severity profile.
Going further back, the pattern holds. A 2023 inspection in August found seven high-severity violations and one intermediate. A 2025 inspection in April found four high-severity violations. The only stretches with lower counts were 2022 and the November 2025 inspection, which found two high-severity violations each.
In total, the restaurant has been cited for high-severity violations in every one of the eight prior inspections on record. The July 7 inspection marks the third time in 2026 alone that inspectors documented six high-severity violations at the same location.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations at Jerry's on July 7, including food from unapproved sources and toxic chemicals stored near food, did not meet that threshold.
The restaurant remained open after the inspection.
State records show it also remained open after the June 22 inspection, which produced the same violation count. And after the April 20 inspection, which produced the same violation count again.
Jerry's Pizza & Subs has been cited for 134 violations across 19 inspections and has never been emergency-closed.
