MIAMI BEACH, FL. Inspectors visiting Little Brazil on Collins Avenue on April 27 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means there is no paper trail if a customer gets sick and no guarantee the food passed any federal safety inspection before it reached the kitchen.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The April 27 inspection produced a total of ten violations: six high-severity and four intermediate. The chemical violations were cited separately, once for improper storage and labeling and again for improper identification and use, meaning inspectors flagged two distinct failures involving toxic substances in the same walk-through.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique, not simply a failure to wash hands, but a failure to wash them correctly. They cited food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. And they noted the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, a disclosure required specifically to warn elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system.
The four intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned, improper sanitizing procedures, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation is the one with the longest potential reach. When a restaurant purchases food from an unapproved or unknown supplier, that food has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection. If a customer becomes ill, there is no supply chain record to trace. Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli are the pathogens most associated with uninspected food sources, and identifying the origin of an outbreak becomes significantly harder without documentation.
The chemical violations compound the risk in a different direction. Toxic substances stored or labeled improperly near food create a direct contamination pathway. Mislabeled chemicals can be mistaken for food-safe products. Improperly stored ones can leach into food prep areas. Together, the two chemical citations at Little Brazil on April 27 indicate inspectors found more than one failure point involving hazardous substances in the kitchen.
The handwashing technique citation matters because it is not the same as skipping handwashing entirely. An employee who goes through the motions of washing but does so incorrectly still transfers pathogens to food, surfaces, and utensils. Combined with food contact surfaces that were not properly sanitized and multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned, the April 27 inspection describes a kitchen where contamination could move from hands to surfaces to food without interruption.
The sewage and wastewater disposal violation is among the most severe on the intermediate list. Improper disposal creates a pathway for fecal contamination throughout a facility.
The Longer Record
The April 27 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Little Brazil has been inspected 22 times and has accumulated 243 total violations across that history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern across the eight most recent inspections is consistent. In September 2025, inspectors found six high-severity and two intermediate violations. In August 2024, they found eight high-severity and five intermediate violations, the highest single-inspection total in the recent record. In December 2023, six high-severity and two intermediate violations. In November 2021, six high-severity and two intermediate violations.
High-severity violations have appeared in every single inspection on record going back to at least 2021. The counts have ranged from three to eight per visit, but they have never reached zero.
The April 27 total of six high-severity violations sits in the middle of that range. It is not the worst inspection this restaurant has had. It is, by the available record, a routine one.
Open for Business
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that continued operation poses an immediate threat to public health. The threshold is a judgment call, and on April 27, the inspector at Little Brazil did not pull that trigger.
The restaurant, which sits on Collins Avenue in one of Miami Beach's busiest tourist corridors, remained open after an inspection that documented unknown food sourcing, two separate chemical storage failures, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, and a handwashing technique violation.
That is the record as of April 27, 2026. The restaurant was open when inspectors arrived, and it was open when they left.