SEBRING, FL. Back in December 2025, a state inspector visiting Leisure Marathon on U.S. 27 found a microwave oven available for customer use with rust corrosion on the interior walls and the protective sealant inside actively peeling off.
The person in charge pulled the microwave from service on the spot and agreed to replace it. But the inspection, conducted December 11 by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, turned up eight more violations at the Highlands County convenience store before it was done.
What Inspectors Found
The handwashing sink in the food service and retail area had a water hose attached to the faucet, blocking employee access. The inspector flagged it as a priority foundation violation. The person in charge had the hose removed during the inspection.
The three-compartment sink's wastewater drain was plumbed with a direct connection to the septic system and no air gap installed. That violation also carried a priority foundation designation and was not corrected on site during the December visit.
The store had no written procedures for employees to follow in the event of a vomit or diarrhea incident. The inspector provided a guidance handout to management. No handwashing sign was posted at the hand wash sink notifying employees to wash their hands.
The walk-in cooler's air cooling unit was leaking condensate water from the drip pan into a plastic bucket placed beneath it. That water was also pooling onto the cooler floor. The door's rubber seal was damaged and not secured in place.
The store had no mop sink. According to the inspector's notes, the establishment underwent remodeling and the sink was never reinstalled. The inspector issued a 30-day notice requiring the store to have a mop sink properly installed and plumbed to the septic system with at least cold running water available.
Ceiling tiles throughout the back and retail areas were water stained. Walls in both areas were documented as damaged.
What These Violations Mean
The rusted, peeling microwave is the most visible concern for anyone who has used it. Rust and degraded sealant inside a microwave can contaminate food placed inside, and the protective coating exists specifically to prevent interior surfaces from flaking into food. The inspector's decision to remove it from service immediately reflects how directly this affects customers rather than just employees.
The missing air gap on the three-compartment sink drain is a plumbing issue with real contamination consequences. An air gap prevents wastewater from being siphoned back into the sink through backflow. Without it, contaminated wastewater from the septic system can reverse into a sink used to wash food-contact equipment.
The blocked handwashing sink matters because it represents the most basic barrier between employee contamination and the food and products customers handle. A hose attached to the faucet is a small obstruction, but the effect is the same as a sink that is simply unavailable. The violation was corrected during the inspection, but it should not have existed in the first place.
The absence of a written vomit and diarrhea cleanup procedure may seem like a paperwork issue. It is not. Without a documented protocol, employees handling a contamination event in a retail food environment have no standard steps to follow, no required protective equipment to use, and no guidance on which products in the affected area need to be pulled. The inspector provided management with a handout to help write those procedures.
The Longer Record
The December inspection was not the end of the story at Leisure Marathon. A follow-up check-back inspection on January 16, 2026 found one violation still unresolved, and that violation was flagged as a repeat.
The January record is brief in its details, but the repeat designation is significant. It means inspectors returned to verify corrections from December and found at least one problem that had not been fixed and had appeared before.
The facility's inspection history on file covers at least these two visits within roughly five weeks. For a convenience store with food service operations, two inspections in that window, with an unresolved repeat violation on the second visit, indicates the December findings were not fully addressed in the time between the two inspections.
The mop sink violation carried a 30-day deadline from the December inspection date. Whether that sink was installed and properly plumbed by January 16 is not documented in the available records.
The three-compartment sink's missing air gap was not corrected during the December inspection. Whether it appeared among the January violations is also not documented here.
What the record does show is that as of January 16, 2026, at least one violation from the December inspection remained open and was designated a repeat finding.
