LAKE COUNTY, FL. A Clermont pizzeria serving coal-fired pies accumulated nine high-severity violations in a single inspection last week, including food sourced from unapproved suppliers, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, the most serious combination of findings in Lake County during the week of July 9 through July 15, 2026.
Michael's Ali Coal Fired Pizza at 790 W Minneola Ave also drew citations for inadequate handwashing facilities, improper hand-washing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, food in poor condition or adulterated, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. The inspection produced nine high-severity violations and three intermediate ones, the highest combined total of any facility inspected in the county that week.
Fifty inspections across 48 facilities were conducted countywide. Twelve of those facilities each drew two or more high-severity violations, a figure that spans Clermont, Leesburg, Mount Dora, Eustis, and Groveland.
The Violations
Five Star Seafood at 7609 US 441 in Leesburg drew eight high-severity violations, second-worst in the county for the week. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shell stock identification records, failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory for raw items, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. For a seafood restaurant serving shellfish, the combination of missing traceability records and ignored parasite destruction protocols is a layered problem.
Vincents Italian Restaurant at 5914 N Orange Blossom Trail in Mount Dora produced seven high-severity violations. Among them: food from an unapproved or unknown source, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and a second citation for toxic substances improperly identified or used. Inspectors also flagged that time was not being properly used as a public health control, meaning food was held in the temperature danger zone without adequate tracking.
Oakwood Smokehouse at 2911 David Walker Dr in Eustis drew seven high-severity violations as well, including no person in charge present or performing duties, inadequate handwashing facilities, food from unapproved sources, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Inspectors also noted improper sewage or wastewater disposal as an intermediate violation.
Bagel Bros Cafe at 1216 S Bay St in Eustis matched the seven high-severity count. The citations included no person in charge, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Sewage disposal was flagged at the intermediate level.
Jeannie's Place at 209 E Gottsche Ave in Eustis drew six high-severity violations: no person in charge, employees not reporting illness, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Inspectors also cited inadequate ventilation and lighting.
Subway #29413 at 7965 SR 50 in Groveland also drew six high-severity violations, including employees not reporting illness symptoms, food in poor condition or adulterated, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. The parasite destruction citation is notable for a sandwich chain where fish products are routinely served without any additional cooking step by the customer.
China King at 2870 David Walker Dr in Eustis, Tropical Smoothie Cafe at 3232 SR 44 in Mount Dora, Via Food and Beverage at 10401 US 441 in Leesburg, Roma Pizza and Italian Cuisine at 1 N Eustis St, and Froggers Grill and Bar at 4931 Lake Park Court in Mount Dora each drew five high-severity violations.
China King's citations included no employee health policy, inadequate shell stock identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Tropical Smoothie Cafe's included inadequate handwashing facilities, inadequate shell stock records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Via Food and Beverage was cited for no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Roma Pizza drew citations for no employee health policy, food in poor condition, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored. Froggers Grill and Bar rounded out the list with improper handwashing technique, food from unapproved sources, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, no consumer advisory, and toxic chemicals improperly stored, plus an intermediate citation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at Michael's Ali Coal Fired Pizza, Oakwood Smokehouse, Bagel Bros Cafe, Vincents Italian Restaurant, and Froggers Grill and Bar, means inspectors could not verify that the food came through a supply chain subject to USDA or FDA oversight. If a customer gets sick and investigators need to trace an outbreak back to its source, no record exists to follow. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli have all been linked to uninspected food supply chains.
Parasite destruction failures, documented at Michael's Ali Coal Fired Pizza, Five Star Seafood, and Subway in Groveland, carry a specific and direct risk. Fish served raw or undercooked without prior freezing to required temperatures can harbor live Anisakis roundworms or tapeworm larvae. The procedure exists precisely because no amount of visual inspection can detect a parasite inside a fillet.
The employee illness violations at Five Star Seafood, Bagel Bros Cafe, Jeannie's Place, Subway, and Via Food and Beverage represent a different category of danger. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads directly from infected food workers to customers. A policy on paper does not stop transmission. Employees who do not report symptoms and managers without active health policies in place are the documented mechanism behind most multi-victim restaurant outbreaks.
Toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled appeared at nine of the twelve worst-performing facilities this week. That volume is not coincidental. It reflects a countywide pattern of chemical storage practices that place cleaning agents, sanitizers, and other hazardous materials in proximity to food or food contact surfaces without adequate separation or labeling.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities featured this week, which limits the ability to place each facility's current findings against a full history. What the inspection records do show is the character of violations at each location, and several patterns stand out.
Eustis produced five of the twelve worst-performing facilities this week: Oakwood Smokehouse, Bagel Bros Cafe, Jeannie's Place, China King, and Roma Pizza. Three of those five, Oakwood Smokehouse, Bagel Bros Cafe, and Jeannie's Place, were each cited for no person in charge present or not performing duties. CDC data links the absence of active managerial oversight directly to higher rates of critical violations, and the clustering of that specific citation across three Eustis facilities in a single inspection week is a pattern inspectors will note.
The food contact surface sanitation failure was the single most common high-severity violation across all twelve facilities this week. Every one of the twelve worst performers drew that citation. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and equipment that are not properly cleaned and sanitized between uses are a primary transfer point for bacterial contamination, connecting whatever pathogen enters a kitchen to whatever food leaves it.
Michael's Ali Coal Fired Pizza in Clermont stands alone at the top of this week's findings with nine high-severity violations. The combination of unapproved food sourcing, failed parasite destruction, undercooking, and inadequate handwashing infrastructure in a single inspection is not a collection of paperwork gaps. It is a complete breakdown across the sourcing, preparation, cooking, and hygiene functions of a kitchen. The facility's consumer advisory was also absent, meaning customers ordering anything raw or undercooked had no notice that the food carried additional risk.
