ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL. Inspectors visiting Jerry's Pizza & Subs on West SR 436 on June 22 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means no federal safety inspection ever touched the ingredients going into customers' meals.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented at the Altamonte Springs location. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source citation is among the most serious a food-service inspector can write. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection chains carries no traceability, meaning that if a customer gets sick, there is no supply chain to trace back to the origin.
The chemical violations compound the picture. Inspectors cited the restaurant twice for toxic substance problems, once for improper storage or labeling and again for improper identification, storage, or use. Two separate chemical citations in a single inspection visit suggests the problem was not confined to one corner of the kitchen.
Employees were also observed using improper handwashing technique. That means workers made handwashing attempts, but the method was insufficient to remove pathogens from their hands before handling food. The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, leaving customers with no notice that certain menu items carry elevated risk.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and multi-use utensils were documented as improperly cleaned. Wiping cloths, one of the most common contamination vectors in a food-service kitchen, were also cited for improper use.
What These Violations Mean
The unapproved food source violation is not a paperwork problem. When ingredients enter a kitchen without passing through licensed, inspected suppliers, there is no documentation to confirm they were handled at safe temperatures, processed in sanitary conditions, or tested for pathogens like Listeria or Salmonella. If a customer became ill after eating at Jerry's Pizza & Subs, investigators would have no supply chain to follow.
The two chemical violations carry a different but immediate danger. Cleaning agents and other toxic substances stored near or improperly labeled in proximity to food create a direct route for chemical contamination. Mislabeled containers are a documented cause of accidental poisoning in food service settings, and the fact that inspectors cited this category twice in the same visit means the problem was not isolated to a single item.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils are how bacteria move from one food item to the next. Bacterial biofilms can establish on inadequately sanitized surfaces within 24 hours, and those biofilms are significantly harder to remove than surface contamination addressed promptly. Wiping cloths used incorrectly, wiped across multiple surfaces or left sitting in standing liquid, spread whatever pathogens they pick up across every surface they subsequently touch.
The handwashing citation ties all of it together. A worker who handles contaminated surfaces, improperly sourced food, or mislabeled chemicals and then performs an ineffective handwash carries whatever was on those surfaces directly to the next thing they touch.
The Longer Record
The June 22 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 18 inspections on file for this location, with 124 total violations accumulated across that history.
The most recent inspection before June 22 was on April 20, 2026, exactly two months earlier. That visit produced six high-severity violations and two intermediate violations, an identical severity profile to the June inspection. The restaurant was not closed after April's inspection either.
Going back further, the pattern holds. A 2023 inspection on August 8 produced seven high-severity violations, the single worst visit on record. Inspections in April 2025, December 2024, and February 2023 each added more high-severity citations. There has not been an inspection in this record that came back clean.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its 18 inspections on record. That means every time inspectors have walked out of Jerry's Pizza & Subs, including visits that produced six or seven high-severity violations in a single day, the restaurant has continued serving customers.
Still Open
Emergency closure in Florida requires inspectors to determine that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. The June 22 inspection at Jerry's Pizza & Subs documented food from an unknown source, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, contaminated food contact surfaces, and employees using handwashing technique that left pathogens on their hands.
None of it was enough to trigger a closure order.
The restaurant was open for business after inspectors left on June 22, the same way it was open after the April 20 inspection, and the August 2023 inspection, and every other visit in an 18-inspection record that has never once resulted in an emergency shutdown.
