HIALEAH, FL. A state inspector visiting Los Mejores Tamales de Miami on East 16th Street on July 21 found food being sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning none of it had passed through USDA or FDA inspection channels before reaching customers' plates.
That was one of ten high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector's report lists food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, a violation that means Salmonella in underprepared poultry can survive and reach a customer's meal intact.
Toxic substances were found improperly identified, stored, or used. That is a chemical contamination risk, not a paperwork problem.
The facility also had no written employee health policy and a separate citation for employees not reporting illness symptoms. Those two violations together mean there was no formal mechanism to keep a sick worker away from food preparation.
Improper handwashing technique was also cited. Even when workers attempted to wash their hands, the technique was insufficient to remove pathogens.
The remaining high-severity violations included food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, inadequate shellfish identification records, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and time being used improperly as a public health control. Three intermediate violations covered improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources citation is among the most consequential on the list. When a restaurant sources food outside licensed, inspected supply chains, there is no paper trail. If a customer becomes ill, public health investigators cannot trace the food back to its origin, identify a contaminated batch, or issue a recall.
The undercooking violation compounds that risk directly. Poultry that has not reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit can carry live Salmonella. Combined with food arriving from sources that bypassed federal inspection, there is no upstream safety check and no downstream heat kill step.
The employee illness violations at Los Mejores Tamales de Miami are particularly acute. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks, spreads through direct hand-to-food contact from infected workers. Without a health policy requiring employees to report symptoms, and without documented evidence that workers were actually reporting, there is no barrier between a sick employee and a customer's food.
The shellfish traceability violation adds a separate layer of concern. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen. Without proper identification records, a contaminated batch of oysters or clams cannot be traced and pulled from service once an illness is reported.
The Longer Record
Los Mejores Tamales de Miami: Recent Inspection History
July's inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 36 inspections on file for this address, with 359 total violations accumulated across that history.
The restaurant has logged high-severity violations in every inspection on record for the past two and a half years. The October 2025 visit that showed zero high-severity violations came one day after a visit that found seven. The clean inspection appears to have been a follow-up callback, not an independent finding.
Two prior emergency closures are on record, both for rodent activity, in March 2017 and January 2015. Both times, the restaurant was allowed to reopen the following day. The pattern since then has been repeated high-severity citations without a third closure.
The most recent eight inspections before July 2026 produced a combined 29 high-severity violations and 14 intermediate violations. July's single inspection added ten more high-severity citations to that total.
State inspectors documented ten high-severity violations at Los Mejores Tamales de Miami on July 21, 2026. The restaurant was open for business when the inspection ended, and it remained open afterward.
