PALM HARBOR, FL. Food at Joey's New York Pizza and Italian Restaurant on US Highway 19 came from unapproved or unknown sources on August 19, according to state inspection records, meaning that food had bypassed federal safety inspections entirely before reaching customers' plates.
That was one of 13 high-severity violations inspectors documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. When food enters a kitchen outside the regulated supply chain, there is no documentation, no inspection trail, and no way to trace it if customers become ill.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures. Fish and pork served without proper freezing or cooking to verified temperatures can harbor Anisakis, tapeworm, and Trichinella, parasites that survive handling and reach the customer's plate intact.
Food was not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single undercooked serving is enough to cause illness.
The restaurant had no written employee health policy and no system for employees to report illness symptoms. Those two violations together create a direct transmission route: a sick worker with no obligation to report and no policy guiding them off the line.
Inspectors also found inadequate handwashing facilities, improper hand and arm washing technique, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inadequate shell stock identification records were cited, meaning shellfish on the menu could not be traced to a certified harvest source. Toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used. Time as a public health control was not properly applied. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items. The person in charge was either absent or not performing required duties.
Two intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: single-use items were being reused, and toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and missing shellfish traceability records is particularly consequential. When someone gets sick after eating oysters or clams, health investigators trace the illness back through harvest tags to the specific bed and date. Without those records at Joey's, that chain breaks entirely. There is no way to identify the source, no way to issue a targeted recall, and no way to know how many other customers ate from the same batch.
The illness reporting failures compound the food sourcing problem. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads through direct contact with infected food workers. A restaurant with no written health policy and no mechanism for employees to report symptoms is one sick worker away from a multi-customer outbreak, and the inspection record confirms that gap existed here.
Improper handwashing technique matters even when soap and a sink are present. Studies show that incorrect technique leaves pathogens on hands at nearly the same rate as no handwashing at all. Combined with unsanitized food contact surfaces, the conditions documented on August 19 created overlapping contamination pathways across the kitchen.
The toxic substance violation adds a separate and immediate risk. Chemical contamination from improperly stored cleaning agents or pesticides does not require repeated exposure. A single incident can cause acute illness.
The Longer Record
Joey's New York Pizza: Recent Inspection History
State records show 34 inspections of Joey's New York Pizza going back across multiple years, with 308 total violations on file. The August 19 inspection, with 13 high-severity citations, is the single worst on record.
The history shows a pattern of elevated violation counts followed by brief improvement, then a return to serious citations. The March 2024 inspection logged 7 high-severity violations. A July 2025 visit found no high-severity violations at all. Six months later, in February 2026, the count was back up to 5 high and 5 intermediate. By August 2026, it had more than doubled.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history, despite repeated high-severity findings across multiple years.
A follow-up inspection the day after the August 19 visit, on August 20, found 5 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate still unresolved.
The restaurant remained open throughout.
