FERNANDINA BEACH, FL. State inspectors visited Jersey Mike's Subs on Sadler Road on August 27, 2026, and found that food was not being cooked to the minimum required temperature, a violation that means Salmonella and other pathogens can survive in meat served directly to customers.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also documented that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and that hand and arm washing technique was improper. Those three violations together describe a facility where contamination can move from a sick worker's hands to a cutting board to a customer's sandwich without meaningful interruption.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. Sewage or wastewater was not being properly disposed of.
The allergen awareness violation rounds out a list that covers almost every major category of food safety failure: temperature, sanitation, illness reporting, chemical storage, allergen management, and waste disposal. All in one visit.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate at this location on or around August 27. Salmonella survives in poultry below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer has no way to know whether the meat in a sandwich reached that temperature, and at this location, neither did the inspector.
The illness reporting failure compounds that risk in a specific way. Norovirus, the pathogen most associated with food worker transmission, can be shed by an employee who feels only mildly unwell. When a facility lacks a functioning system for workers to report symptoms, a sick employee continues making food, and customers have no warning.
The food contact surface violation means that whatever pathogens were present on a cutting board or prep surface could have been transferred to every item prepared on it. Improper handwashing technique means that even when employees appeared to wash their hands, the pathogens may not have been removed.
The allergen violation carries a separate and acute danger. Food allergies affect roughly 32 million Americans, and reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. When staff cannot demonstrate allergen awareness, a customer with a peanut, dairy, or gluten allergy who asks whether a menu item is safe has no reliable answer.
The Longer Record
This was not a bad week at an otherwise clean restaurant. The August 27 inspection was the seventh time in the past five years that this location logged high-severity violations, according to state records covering 18 inspections.
In September 2022, inspectors found five high-severity violations. In September 2023, three high. In September 2024, four high. In February 2026, three high. The pattern holds across four consecutive annual inspection cycles, with the August 2026 visit producing the worst single-visit total in the record.
The location has accumulated 118 total violations across those 18 inspections. It has never been emergency-closed.
The follow-up inspection on August 31, four days after the flagged visit, showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. The state recorded that the restaurant met standards. But the prior inspection on February 12, 2026, also showed three high and two intermediate violations, and was followed four days later by a clean February 18 inspection. That cycle, violations appear, a follow-up visit clears them, and the next annual inspection finds them again, has repeated itself across multiple years at this address.
Open for Business
State regulations allow a facility to remain open after a high-severity inspection if the violations do not meet the threshold for emergency closure. Seven high-severity violations, including undercooking, illness reporting failures, and improper sewage disposal, did not meet that threshold at this location on August 27.
The restaurant passed its follow-up inspection four days later.
The August 27 inspection record, with its seven high-severity citations, remains part of the permanent file for the Sadler Road location.
