WINTER GARDEN, FL. Inspectors visiting Lime Fresh Mexican Grill at 153 Sugar Belle Drive on October 9, 2026 found that the restaurant was not following parasite destruction procedures for fish, meaning customers could have been served seafood harboring live Anisakis or tapeworm larvae without any warning on the menu.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation means the restaurant was serving fish without the required freezing or cooking steps that kill organisms like Anisakis, a roundworm found in raw and undercooked seafood. For a Mexican grill where fish appears in tacos and bowls, that is not a peripheral concern.
The cooking temperature violation compounds it. Inspectors documented food not reaching its required minimum internal temperature, meaning pathogens including Salmonella in poultry can survive and reach a customer's plate.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited in the same visit: employees not washing hands at all before handling food, and employees using improper technique when they did wash. Both were cited as high-severity. Together they describe a kitchen where contamination from hands was an active, documented risk on that day.
The person in charge was either absent or not performing supervisory duties, which state and federal food safety data consistently link to higher rates of critical violations. The remaining high-severity citation involved time as a public health control, a procedure that allows food to sit in the temperature danger zone between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit only when strict time limits are tracked and enforced. Inspectors found those controls were not properly in place.
Three intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: improper sewage or wastewater disposal, single-use items being reused, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the kind of violation that most diners would not know to ask about. When a restaurant serves fish, state rules require either freezing the fish to specific temperatures for specific durations, or cooking it to a temperature that kills parasites. When neither step is verified or documented, there is no safety net between the fish supplier and the customer's fork.
The two handwashing violations together describe a kitchen where the most basic contamination barrier was failing. Inadequate handwashing is the single most significant factor in spreading foodborne illness, according to the CDC, because hands carry pathogens directly from surfaces, raw proteins, and employees themselves into ready-to-eat food. Improper technique means that even employees who approached the sink may have left with contaminated hands.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods is a legal requirement designed specifically to protect elderly customers, pregnant women, young children, and people with compromised immune systems. Without that notice on the menu, a customer in any of those groups has no way to make an informed choice about what they are ordering.
The sewage disposal violation carries a separate and acute risk. Improper wastewater handling creates the potential for fecal contamination to spread through a facility, affecting surfaces, equipment, and food that employees then handle.
The Longer Record
The October 2026 inspection was the tenth on record for this location. Across those ten inspections, state records show 87 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in those records is difficult to explain as a series of isolated bad days. Inspectors found 6 high-severity violations in April 2024, then returned six days later and found 6 more. A July 2024 inspection added 6 high-severity citations. February 2025 brought 8 high-severity violations, followed by a clean inspection just five days later, then 8 high-severity violations again in September 2025.
The March 2026 inspection produced 6 high-severity violations. A follow-up one week later showed 0 high-severity citations, suggesting the restaurant can meet standards when it chooses to. The October 2026 visit, seven months later, produced 7 high-severity violations.
Of the ten inspections on record, seven included at least four high-severity violations. The restaurant has cycled through that pattern repeatedly without a single emergency closure.
Still Open
State inspectors left Lime Fresh Mexican Grill open on October 9, 2026, despite documenting seven high-severity violations including failures in parasite controls, cooking temperatures, handwashing, and supervisory oversight.
The restaurant has accumulated 87 violations across ten inspections and has never been ordered closed.
It was open for business the day inspectors walked out the door.
