FERNANDINA BEACH, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Larry's Giant Subs on East SR 200 and found that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness, one of the most direct routes by which a food worker can trigger a multi-victim outbreak, and left the restaurant open.
That single violation was one of six high-severity citations inspectors documented on April 3, 2026. Two intermediate violations brought the total to eight. No emergency closure order followed.
What Inspectors Found
The illness-reporting failure was not the only handwashing problem inspectors documented that day. They cited the restaurant separately for inadequate handwashing by food employees and for improper hand and arm washing technique. That is two distinct handwashing violations in a single inspection: one for not washing at all when required, and one for washing incorrectly when the attempt was made.
Inspectors also found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled. The record does not specify which chemicals or exactly where they were found in relation to food, but the citation places them in a context where contamination or mislabeling was a documented concern.
The sixth high-severity violation involved time as a public health control not being properly used. When a facility uses time rather than temperature to manage food safety, it operates under a strict protocol requiring food to be discarded at a set point. Inspectors found that protocol was not being followed.
No person in charge was present or performing duties at the time of the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting violation is the one that most directly puts customers at risk. Food workers who come to work sick and do not disclose symptoms are the leading cause of multi-victim foodborne illness outbreaks. Norovirus, which spreads through the fecal-oral route, can be transmitted to dozens of customers through a single infected worker handling food without proper controls. The violation at Larry's Giant Subs in April 2026 means that no system was in place, or no system was being followed, to catch a sick worker before they reached the sandwich line.
The two handwashing violations compound that risk. Improper handwashing is the single most significant factor in spreading foodborne illness from worker to food. Citing a facility for both inadequate handwashing and incorrect technique in the same inspection means inspectors observed failures at two separate points in the same basic safety behavior. Even when employees made an attempt to wash, the technique was wrong enough to warrant its own citation.
The improperly stored toxic chemicals add a different category of risk entirely. Chemical contamination of food can cause acute poisoning, not the delayed gastrointestinal illness associated with bacterial pathogens but an immediate reaction. The intermediate violations, covering multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and improper use of wiping cloths, layer on top of the high-severity findings. Improperly cleaned utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Wiping cloths used incorrectly become vehicles that spread contamination across surfaces rather than cleaning them.
The absence of a person in charge is not a minor paperwork issue. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times as many critical violations. On April 3, 2026, at Larry's Giant Subs, every other violation on the inspection report was found in a location where no one in authority was present to catch or correct it.
The Longer Record
Larry's Giant Subs: Inspection History
The April 2026 inspection was not a new low for this location. Thirteen inspections are on record at Larry's Giant Subs on East SR 200, accounting for 116 total violations across the facility's documented history. The single worst inspection on record was December 19, 2024, when inspectors found 10 high-severity and 5 intermediate violations, a tally that exceeds the April 2026 inspection by a significant margin.
The pattern across years is consistent. In August 2020, inspectors found 7 high-severity and 3 intermediate violations. In August 2022, inspectors returned on back-to-back days: 6 high-severity violations on August 17, followed by a reinspection the following day showing 1 high-severity violation remaining. The facility has never been emergency-closed in its documented inspection history.
A follow-up inspection on April 6, 2026, three days after the violations were cited, showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. The location cleared the reinspection.
It had done the same thing before. The record at this location runs six years deep and shows a recurring cycle: significant violations, reinspection, clearance, repeat. In April 2026, customers who ate at Larry's Giant Subs on East SR 200 between the inspection on April 3 and the clearance on April 6 did so while six high-severity violations remained on the books and the restaurant remained open.