POMPANO BEACH, FL. Inspectors walked into a Pompano Beach juice bar in September 2026 and found no one in charge, employees washing their hands incorrectly, food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and shellfish on hand with no identification records to trace where it came from. They documented six high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. Then they left the restaurant open.
The September 8 inspection of Juice 2 U at 2101 NW 33rd Street produced one of the more striking violation sheets in recent Broward County records: six high-priority citations at a single facility in a single visit, with no emergency closure order attached.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish violation stands out at a juice bar. State records show the facility had shell stock on hand without proper identification or records, meaning there was no way to determine where the shellfish came from, when it was harvested, or who processed it.
The handwashing picture was worse than a single citation suggests. Inspectors cited the facility twice on handwashing alone: once for employees not washing their hands adequately, and a second time for using improper technique. Both citations are high-priority. Both were documented on the same visit.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and the facility's sanitizing solution or procedures were also cited as improper. Two separate violations, both pointing at the same breakdown: the surfaces where food is prepared and the tools used to clean them were both failing.
The sixth high-severity citation involved time as a public health control. When a facility uses time rather than temperature to keep food safe, it must follow a strict protocol: food must be tracked, labeled, and discarded within defined windows. The violation indicates that protocol was not being followed.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing citations carry particular weight. Improper handwashing is the most direct route for pathogens to travel from an employee's hands onto food a customer will consume. The two separate citations at Juice 2 U document both that employees were not washing their hands adequately and that when they did wash, the technique was wrong. A handwashing attempt that uses incorrect technique still leaves bacteria on the hands.
The shellfish traceability failure is a different kind of risk. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are high-risk foods that are often consumed raw or lightly cooked. Without shell stock identification records, there is no way to trace an illness back to a specific harvest lot if a customer gets sick. That traceability exists specifically to enable rapid response to contamination events. Without it, an outbreak investigation starts from zero.
Unsanitized food contact surfaces are a cross-contamination vehicle. Cutting boards, blending equipment, and prep surfaces that carry residue from prior use can transfer bacteria directly to the next item processed on them. At a juice bar, where produce is cut and blended repeatedly throughout a shift, that risk compounds with each use.
The absence of a person in charge performing duties is not a paperwork violation. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations. The other five high-severity citations at Juice 2 U on September 8 are consistent with that correlation.
The Longer Record
The September 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Juice 2 U has been inspected 27 times and has accumulated 108 total violations across its history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in the prior inspection record is consistent. In December 2025, inspectors cited five high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. In September 2024, five high-severity violations. In September 2023, four high-severity violations. In September 2025, four high-severity violations. The facility has logged four or more high-priority citations in a single visit on at least five separate occasions.
The only inspection in the recent record that produced zero high-severity violations was a September 2023 visit that occurred the same day as another inspection that found four. A January 2024 visit found zero high-priority violations and one intermediate. Every other inspection in the past three years has produced at least one high-severity citation, and most have produced three or more.
The September 8, 2026 inspection, with six high-severity violations, is the worst single visit on record for the facility in the data available.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority applies when an inspector determines that continued operation poses an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations, including shellfish with no traceability records, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and two separate handwashing failures, did not meet that threshold at Juice 2 U on September 8.
The facility was not closed. It remained open to serve customers.
