MIAMI LAKES, FL. Food at King & I Thai Restaurant on NW 77 Court was not cooked to the minimum required temperature during a state inspection on April 21, a violation that inspectors classify as a direct pathway for pathogens like Salmonella to survive on a plate and reach a customer. The restaurant was not closed.

That single violation was one of seven high-severity citations issued that day. State records show the restaurant accumulated nine total violations during the visit, including an intermediate citation for inadequate ventilation and lighting.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHFood not cooked to required minimum temperaturePathogen survival risk
2HIGHToxic chemicals improperly stored or labeledPoisoning risk
3HIGHEmployee not reporting symptoms of illnessOutbreak enabler
4HIGHImproper hand and arm washing techniquePathogen transfer
5HIGHFood contact surfaces not properly cleaned/sanitizedCross-contamination
6HIGHNo consumer advisory for raw/undercooked foodsUninformed diners
7HIGHPerson in charge not present or performing dutiesManagement failure
8INTERInadequate ventilation and lightingAir quality

Beyond the temperature violation, inspectors cited the restaurant for toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly, a violation that can cause acute poisoning if a chemical contaminates food through proximity, mislabeling, or accidental misuse. Inspectors also found that food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep stations, and utensils that touch every dish leaving the kitchen, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.

Employees were cited for not reporting symptoms of illness, and for using improper handwashing technique. Those two violations frequently appear together in outbreak investigations because they describe a single failure chain: a sick worker who doesn't report symptoms and doesn't wash hands correctly before handling food.

The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, elderly diners, and young children had no notice that any item on the menu carried elevated risk. And no person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection.

What These Violations Mean

The undercooking violation is not a paperwork issue. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a dish that leaves the kitchen at an insufficient internal temperature carries live bacteria to the table. At King & I Thai, where Thai cuisine frequently features poultry and meat dishes cooked to order, that gap between required and actual temperature is the difference between a safe meal and a foodborne illness case.

The improper handwashing citation compounds that risk. Studies show that flawed technique, skipping steps, insufficient duration, or bypassing soap, leaves enough pathogens on hands to contaminate every surface a cook touches afterward. Combined with the food contact surface citation at the same restaurant on the same day, the inspection describes a kitchen where bacteria can move from hands to cutting boards to finished dishes with nothing stopping it.

The illness-reporting failure is what epidemiologists call an outbreak enabler. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of restaurant-linked outbreaks, spreads most efficiently through a food worker who feels ill but continues working without reporting symptoms. The absence of a person in charge performing active supervisory duties at King & I Thai means no one in the kitchen that day was positioned to catch any of these failures before food left the kitchen.

The Longer Record

King & I Thai: High-Severity Violations by Inspection

April 21, 20269 high/intermediate violations. Restaurant remained open.
November 7, 20258 total violations, 7 high-severity.
March 6, 20257 high-severity violations, 0 intermediate.
October 30, 202411 total violations, 9 high-severity.
June 27, 20244 total violations, 2 high-severity.
December 18, 20236 total violations, 5 high-severity.
March 14, 20236 high-severity violations.
August 30, 20228 total violations, 6 high-severity.

The April 21 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show King & I Thai has been inspected 26 times and has accumulated 283 total violations across its history. Of the eight most recent inspections on record, seven produced six or more high-severity violations. The one exception was a June 2024 visit that found two high-severity citations.

The October 2024 inspection produced nine high-severity violations, matching this week's count exactly. The November 2025 inspection produced seven high-severity violations, the same total as the most recent visit. The pattern across nearly four years is consistent: high-severity violations in the range of six to nine, visit after visit, with no emergency closure ever issued.

The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record.

On April 21, 2026, after an inspector documented undercooked food, improperly stored chemicals, sick employees not reporting symptoms, flawed handwashing, unsanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory, and no manager present, King & I Thai remained open for business.