PORT ST. LUCIE, FL. Food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards. That was one of ten high-severity violations state inspectors documented at Labby's Pizzeria at 1282 SW Gatlin Blvd on September 23, 2026, a finding that puts customers at risk of acute poisoning or injury from a meal they had no reason to suspect was unsafe.
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspection record lists twelve violations in total, ten of them high severity. Among them: food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated; parasite destruction procedures not followed; food not cooked to the required minimum temperature; and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for having no employee health policy and no system for workers to report illness symptoms. A separate violation noted improper hand and arm washing technique. And the menu offered raw or undercooked items without the required consumer advisory, meaning customers had no notice they were taking on added risk.
The two intermediate violations covered multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and improper sanitizing solutions or procedures.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and no illness reporting system is not a paperwork problem. Without a written policy, a worker with Norovirus has no formal obligation to stay home or report symptoms, and Norovirus spreads through a single contaminated surface or improperly washed hand to dozens of customers. The illness reporting violation compounds that: food workers who do not report symptoms are, according to federal food safety data, the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks.
Improper handwashing technique means pathogens remain on hands even after a worker goes through the motions of washing. That finding, combined with food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized and multi-use utensils with the same deficiency, creates multiple transfer points between a contaminated hand and a customer's plate.
The parasite destruction violation is specific to fish, pork, and wild game. Without proper freezing or cooking protocols, parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella survive and reach the customer. At a pizzeria serving fish or meat toppings, that is a direct pathway. The undercooking violation reinforces the same concern: Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a pizza kitchen that is not hitting minimum temperatures on proteins is not killing what needs to be killed.
Toxic chemicals improperly stored near food is the most immediately dangerous finding for a customer who has no knowledge of it. Sanitizers, cleaners, and pesticides stored near or above food preparation areas can contaminate food without any visible sign. A customer ordering a slice has no way to know whether the sauce on that slice came into contact with a cleaning agent.
The Longer Record
Labby's Pizzeria: Inspection History
State records show thirteen inspections on file for Labby's Pizzeria, accumulating 93 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
Every inspection on record has produced at least one high-severity violation. The February 2025 inspection yielded six high-severity and five intermediate violations. The August 2022 inspection, the earliest in the record with detailed severity data, also produced six high-severity violations. September 2026's count of ten is the highest single-visit total in the facility's documented history.
The violations are not confined to one category. High-severity findings appear across food sourcing, cooking temperature, sanitation, pest and chemical controls, and employee health practices across multiple inspection years. A facility that logs a temperature violation once and corrects it tells a different story than one that cycles through the same categories year after year. The record here spans at least four years of high-severity findings without an emergency closure.
Still Open
State inspectors documented ten high-severity violations at Labby's Pizzeria on September 23, 2026. They documented food contaminated by chemical, physical, or biological hazards. They documented that the restaurant had no system to keep sick workers out of the kitchen. They documented food not cooked to minimum safe temperatures and toxic chemicals stored improperly near food.
The restaurant remained open that day.
