TRENTON, FL. Back in March 2026, state inspectors walked into Jr Super Grocery on a routine sanitation check and found a store that could not produce a probe thermometer to verify whether its perishable cold foods were being held at safe temperatures.
That single finding, flagged as a priority foundation violation, meant there was no way for employees to confirm that the cold foods on the shelves were actually cold enough.
What Inspectors Found
The March 9 inspection logged 10 total violations at the Trenton convenience store, which sells prepackaged food products and does not operate a food service kitchen. None of the violations were corrected on site.
The second priority foundation violation was equally direct: the store could not provide a written procedure for responding to a vomiting or diarrheal event. That is a required document under state food safety rules, not an optional one.
The inspector also noted that the back room area had no hand-washing signage posted at the hand-wash station near the ware-washing sink. The three sinks in that same back room, the ware wash, mop, and hand-wash sinks, were not sealed to the wall.
The restroom door lacked a functioning self-closing mechanism. The restroom floor had broken and torn flooring, and the same problem appeared in the retail area near the coolers and product shelving.
Dirt and debris had accumulated on the floor throughout the facility. Dust had built up on the air conditioning intake vents. Lighting was insufficient throughout the entire establishment, both in the retail and back room areas.
The Repeat Problem
One of the 10 violations was marked as a repeat: the store does not have a certified food protection manager who has passed a recognized examination. Inspectors had flagged this same deficiency before.
A certified food protection manager is not a paperwork formality. It is the person responsible for knowing and enforcing food safety practices inside the store. When that position is vacant or uncertified, there is no designated individual accountable for identifying and correcting the kinds of problems inspectors documented in March.
This was the only violation among the 10 that carried a repeat designation. But it is a foundational one.
What These Violations Mean
The missing probe thermometer is the most direct food safety concern for anyone who shops at Jr Super Grocery. Cold foods, including dairy, deli items, and other perishables, must be held at or below 41 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent bacterial growth. Without a thermometer, employees have no way to verify that coolers are performing correctly or that individual products are within safe temperature range. A cooler can appear to be running while food inside it has drifted into the danger zone.
The absence of a written vomit and diarrhea cleanup procedure matters because norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness, spreads rapidly through contaminated surfaces and improper cleanup. State rules require food establishments to have a documented protocol so that employees know exactly how to isolate, contain, and sanitize after such an event. Without it, a contamination incident in a small store can spread to product packaging, shelving, and surfaces that customers touch.
The lighting deficiency cited throughout the entire establishment is not a minor cosmetic issue. Adequate lighting in food storage and handling areas is required specifically because it allows employees and inspectors to see contamination, pest activity, and product damage that would otherwise go unnoticed. A store where the lighting is insufficient throughout is a store where problems are harder to catch.
The broken and torn flooring in both the restroom and the retail area near coolers creates surfaces that cannot be properly cleaned or sanitized, allowing bacteria and moisture to accumulate in cracks and gaps.
The Longer Record
The March 2026 inspection was the fourth on record at this location. The history is uneven in ways that matter.
The most recent prior visit, in May 2025, was a focused inspection that found only one violation, but it was a significant one: operating without a valid food permit. That same violation had also appeared in January 2024, when inspectors documented 12 violations total during another inspection that noted the store was again operating without a valid food permit.
The September 2023 inspection was a focused visit that found zero violations.
The pattern across four inspections shows a store that has cycled through serious compliance gaps, including permit lapses and now a repeat failure to maintain a certified food protection manager, alongside periods that generated no findings. The March 2026 visit produced the broadest set of violations on record at this location: 10 citations covering food safety infrastructure, physical maintenance, and documentation requirements.
None of the 10 violations documented on March 9, 2026, were corrected while the inspector was on site.