ORLANDO, FL. Inspectors visiting Juicy Crab on International Drive on August 7, 2026 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, a violation that means customers may have been served poultry or seafood harboring live pathogens, and the restaurant was allowed to remain open.
The August 7 inspection turned up 8 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations, a total of 14 citations in a single visit. The facility was not emergency-closed despite the volume and severity of what inspectors documented.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking citation is among the most direct threats inspectors can document at a seafood restaurant. Juicy Crab serves shellfish, crab, and shrimp, foods that require precise internal temperatures to kill Salmonella, Vibrio, and other pathogens common in Gulf and Atlantic shellfish.
Two separate chemical violations appeared on the same inspection report. Toxic chemicals were cited as both improperly stored or labeled and improperly identified, stored, or used, meaning inspectors found multiple distinct problems with how hazardous substances were handled near food.
The shell stock identification failure is specific to seafood operations. Without proper tagging and records on oysters, clams, and mussels, there is no way to trace the origin of a shellfish if customers fall ill, and no way to pull product from a contaminated harvest.
Improper sewage or wastewater disposal, cited as an intermediate violation, rounds out a picture of a facility with failures running from the kitchen to the plumbing.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooking and missing consumer advisories hits the same customer from two directions. Undercooked food delivers a pathogen. The absent advisory means the customer had no warning it was coming. At a seafood restaurant catering to tourists on International Drive, that customer may be elderly, immunocompromised, or pregnant, precisely the populations most at risk from raw or undercooked shellfish.
The illness reporting failure compounds every other violation on the list. A food worker who does not report symptoms of norovirus or Salmonella infection continues handling food, and no amount of cooking temperature compliance can fully contain a contamination that originates with the person preparing the meal.
The two chemical violations are not administrative paperwork problems. Unlabeled or improperly stored cleaning chemicals near food or food-contact surfaces can contaminate a dish without any visible sign. Mislabeled containers are a known cause of acute poisoning incidents in restaurant kitchens.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours, a layer of bacteria that resists standard rinsing. Combined with food contact surfaces cited as inadequately sanitized, inspectors documented multiple overlapping contamination pathways at this facility on the same day.
The Longer Record
August 7 was not an aberration. State records show Juicy Crab on International Drive has accumulated 310 violations across 35 inspections on record, a history that includes a prior emergency closure.
That closure was triggered by the August 7 inspection itself. Records show the facility was shut down the same day inspectors documented roach and fly activity, then allowed to reopen on August 8 after a follow-up visit that found 4 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations still present.
The pattern extends well before this month. On February 18, 2026, inspectors recorded 8 high-severity and 6 intermediate violations, an identical severity count to the August 7 inspection. Six months later, the same profile reappeared.
Going back to August 2025, the facility logged 6 high-severity violations on August 26, then 2 high-severity violations two days later on August 28, before passing a clean inspection on August 29. That three-day sequence, serious violations followed by a passing score, has repeated itself at this location across multiple inspection cycles.
Open for Business
The emergency closure on August 7 was issued for pest activity, not for the undercooking, the chemical storage failures, the missing shell stock records, or the illness reporting breakdown. Those 8 high-severity violations did not, on their own, trigger a closure order.
The restaurant reopened August 8. State records show 4 high-severity violations were still present at that follow-up inspection.
Juicy Crab on International Drive remained open to customers after that visit.
