LEESBURG, FL. When a state inspector walked into La Palma Mexican Grill on Citrus Boulevard on September 25, they found toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, employees not reporting symptoms of illness, and no one in charge performing managerial duties. The restaurant collected seven high-severity violations that day. It was not closed.
The inspection, conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, also turned up three intermediate violations, bringing the total to ten citations from a single visit. That tally included failures touching nearly every layer of food safety: management oversight, worker health, surface sanitation, chemical storage, and shellfish traceability.
What Inspectors Found
The chemical storage violation is among the most immediately dangerous findings in the report. Cleaning agents and other toxic compounds stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate ingredients directly, and mislabeled containers create conditions where staff cannot identify what they are handling.
Employees were documented as not reporting symptoms of illness. The restaurant also had no written employee health policy in place, meaning there was no formal system requiring workers to disclose when they were sick before handling food. Those two violations together create a direct route for illness to travel from kitchen staff to customers.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touch ingredients throughout a shift, were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. The inspector also noted that multi-use utensils had not been properly cleaned, a separate but related intermediate violation.
The inspector cited improper sewage or waste water disposal, an intermediate violation that carries its own contamination risk, and documented that single-use items were being reused. The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory notifying customers that some menu items are served raw or undercooked, and shellfish on hand had no proper identification records.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is, according to federal food safety data, the leading cause of multi-victim restaurant outbreaks. Norovirus spreads easily through food handled by sick workers and can sicken dozens of people from a single service. Without a written policy, there is no mechanism to keep an ill cook or server away from the line.
The shellfish traceability violation carries a different but serious risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are often consumed raw or minimally cooked, and without proper shell stock identification records, there is no way to trace the source if customers become ill. If an outbreak occurs, investigators need those records to identify the harvest location and pull product from other restaurants. Without them, the trail goes cold.
Improperly stored toxic chemicals near food represent an acute poisoning risk, not a theoretical one. Cleaning compounds can contaminate food directly if stored above prep surfaces, and unlabeled containers mean staff may not recognize a hazard before using or mishandling it.
The absence of a person in charge performing managerial duties ties many of the other violations together. CDC research shows that restaurants without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged oversight. On September 25 at La Palma, that oversight was absent.
The Longer Record
September 25 was not an anomaly. State records show La Palma Mexican Grill has been inspected 33 times, accumulating 264 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The recent inspection history shows a facility cycling through serious violations without sustained correction. On February 17, 2025, inspectors found six high-severity and one intermediate violation. Six months later, on August 27, 2025, another visit turned up six high-severity and three intermediate violations. The pattern held into 2026: five high-severity violations on March 18, five more on May 6, and then the seven-violation inspection on September 25.
A clean inspection on February 18, 2025, one day after the six-high-severity visit, shows the restaurant can pass when it chooses to. That a passing score followed immediately by a high-violation inspection, and that the cycle has repeated across multiple years, is itself part of the record.
A follow-up inspection four days after the September 25 visit, on September 29, found two high-severity violations. The restaurant remained open throughout.
Still Open
Florida law gives inspectors discretion to order emergency closures when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Seven high-severity violations, including toxic chemical storage near food, sick workers not reporting illness, and unsanitized food contact surfaces, did not meet that threshold on September 25.
La Palma Mexican Grill on Citrus Boulevard in Leesburg was open for business that day, and the days that followed.
