KISSIMMEE, FL. State inspectors visiting La Campana Express on Simpson Road on August 20, 2026 found that the restaurant was serving food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means there is no paper trail if a customer gets sick.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
Inspectors also found that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures. For poultry, that threshold is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Below that temperature, Salmonella survives.
Toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near the food operation. That violation carries a direct risk of acute poisoning through contamination or mislabeling, not a theoretical one.
The handwashing picture was compounded by two separate citations. Inspectors found that the handwashing facilities themselves were inadequate, and separately that employees were using improper technique when they did attempt to wash. Both violations appeared on the same inspection report.
No person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the visit. The two intermediate violations involved improper sanitizer concentration and wiping cloths being used in ways that spread contamination rather than control it.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources is treated as a high-severity violation because it severs the traceability chain entirely. If a customer becomes ill after eating at La Campana Express on August 20, investigators would have no way to trace the food back to a supplier, identify a contaminated lot, or notify other buyers. The unapproved source could harbor Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli with no inspection record to suggest otherwise.
The cooking temperature violation compounds that risk directly. If food is already sourced outside the regulated supply chain and then not cooked to the temperature required to kill pathogens, the two violations work together. Undercooking is one of the most documented causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States.
The chemical storage violation sits in a different danger category. Improperly stored or unlabeled toxic chemicals near a food prep area can cause acute poisoning, not just illness that develops over hours. A mislabeled chemical used as a food additive or cleaning solution applied to a surface at the wrong concentration can harm a customer immediately.
The handwashing failures at La Campana Express on August 20 were structural and behavioral at the same time. Inadequate facilities means employees could not wash properly even if they tried. Improper technique means that when they did try, pathogens remained on their hands. Studies consistently show that handwashing failures are among the most direct transmission routes for foodborne illness in restaurant settings.
The Longer Record
August 20 was not an outlier. State records show 31 inspections on file for La Campana Express, with 219 total violations documented across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent across years. Inspectors found 8 high-severity violations in April 2025, 7 in August 2025, 6 in February 2026, and 6 again in August 2026. The only inspection in recent memory with zero high-severity violations was April 2024, a single visit that stands alone in the record.
The February 2026 inspection, just six months before the August visit, produced the same violation count as August: 6 high-severity citations. The categories overlap. That means whatever corrections were made after February did not prevent the same severity level from appearing again by August.
Thirty-one inspections and 219 violations over the life of the facility works out to an average of more than seven violations per visit. The August 2026 inspection, with eight total citations, sits close to that average. For a restaurant that has never been emergency-closed, the record is a long one.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when inspectors determine that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Six high-severity violations at La Campana Express on August 20 did not meet that threshold, at least not as the state applied it that day.
The food sourced from unknown suppliers was still unaccounted for. The chemicals were still improperly stored or labeled when the inspector left. The cooking temperatures had not met minimum requirements during the visit.
La Campana Express on Simpson Road remained open for business after the inspection concluded.
