BOCA RATON, FL. Inspectors visiting Long Island Bagel & Deli on SR 7 on May 30 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food prep areas, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, according to state records. The restaurant was not closed.
The May 30 inspection documented six high-severity violations and three intermediate violations. That tally came one day after a May 29 inspection that found nine high-severity violations and three intermediate violations at the same location.
Two serious inspections in two consecutive days. The restaurant remained open after both.
What Inspectors Found
The food temperature violation is the kind inspectors treat as an immediate hazard. Poultry not reaching 165 degrees Fahrenheit can carry live Salmonella to the plate.
Toxic chemicals stored near food prep areas present a separate and acute risk. An unlabeled or misplaced chemical container near a prep surface can contaminate food directly, and a customer would have no way to know.
The food contact surface violation compounds both of those concerns. Cutting boards, slicers, and prep surfaces that are not properly cleaned become transfer points for whatever bacteria or chemical residue was there before.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique. The violation is distinct from failing to wash hands at all. It means employees went through the motion of washing but did so incorrectly, leaving pathogens on their hands before handling food.
The remaining high-severity violations covered food found in poor condition or mislabeled, and the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. Without that advisory, customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised have no warning that certain items on the menu carry elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooking and improper handwashing technique is particularly direct as a pathway to illness. Salmonella and E. coli can survive undercooking and then transfer from hand to food to plate without a proper handwashing step to interrupt the chain.
The toxic chemical citation is worth reading carefully. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food are not a theoretical risk. Contamination can happen through spills, aerosol drift, or simple misidentification of a container. Acute chemical poisoning from food service environments is documented and traceable precisely because the source is fixed.
Food in poor condition or mislabeled creates a different problem. If a customer has a food allergy and the label on a product is wrong, the menu description is the only remaining safeguard. At Long Island Bagel and Deli on May 30, inspectors found that safeguard was not reliably in place.
The reuse of single-use items, cited as an intermediate violation, adds another layer. Gloves, foil, and single-use utensils are designed to be used once because reuse creates contamination pathways the materials were never built to withstand.
The Longer Record
The May 30 inspection was not an outlier. State records show the Boca Raton location has been inspected 44 times and has accumulated 327 total violations across its history.
The pattern in recent years is consistent. In September 2024, inspectors found five high-severity violations on one day and returned the next day with one more. In October 2025, a three-high-severity inspection on one day was followed by a one-high-severity inspection the next. The May 2026 sequence, nine high-severity violations on May 29 followed by six on May 30, fits the same shape.
The facility was emergency-closed once before, in January 2018, for unsanitary conditions. It reopened the following day. That closure is the only time in 44 inspections that the state moved to shut the location down.
In May 2025, inspectors found five high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. In March 2026, they found two high-severity violations. The May 30, 2026 inspection brought the total to six high-severity violations in a single visit, with the prior day's inspection adding nine more.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. A single high-severity violation can be sufficient. Long Island Bagel and Deli logged six on May 30 and nine the day before.
The restaurant was not closed after either inspection.
State records show it has now passed through at least eight inspections since September 2024 that each included high-severity violations, with no closure order issued. The one closure in the facility's documented history lasted less than 24 hours.
As of the May 30 inspection, Long Island Bagel and Deli on SR 7 in Boca Raton remained open for business.