PLANT CITY, FL. Back in February 2026, a state inspector walked into Los Tarascos, a convenience store on the city's east side, and found cooked chili sitting on scales at an internal temperature of 47 degrees Fahrenheit, well below the 135-degree minimum required for hot-held food. Tamales, beef, and shrimp in the steam table measured between 109 and 128 degrees. Chicken, beef, rice, and pork containers on a prep table measured between 85 and 100 degrees.
The inspector issued six stop sale orders that day and documented 19 total violations. The store was also operating without a valid food permit.
What Inspectors Found
The cold-holding failures were just as extensive. A prickly pear cactus salad and a chicken with carrots salad in an open-air cooler measured 80 degrees. Beans and cooked tomatoes prepared the previous day and stored in the walk-in cooler measured 45 degrees. Raw beef, raw chicken, cheese, hot dogs, and ham in the deli cooler measured 44 degrees.
The tamales were voluntarily discarded. The cactus salad, chicken salad, beans, and cooked tomatoes were also discarded. The remaining hot-held items were reheated, and the deli cooler items were quick-chilled to 41 degrees or below.
The handwashing sink in the kitchen was blocked with silver containers, utensils, and a sponge. It was cleared during the inspection.
Packages of flan, cakes, and horchata from "El Antiguo Cuscatlan Bakery" were on display in the dessert cooler without the store's address on the label. Raw corn and raisin packages were missing a common name and address. Those items were pulled from retail sale during the inspection.
Beyond the temperature and permit violations, the inspector documented an insect trap positioned directly over the prep table, a gap between the wall and the exit door in the back storage area large enough to allow pest entry, and black mold-like buildup on the drink racks inside the walk-in cooler. Old food buildup was found inside the deli cooler, grease coated the wall next to the fryer, and heavy dust had accumulated on the ceiling of the walk-in cooler.
The store also had no written procedures for responding to vomiting or diarrhea incidents on the premises.
What These Violations Mean
The temperature failures documented at Los Tarascos are among the most direct food safety risks an inspector can document. Bacteria including Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium perfringens multiply rapidly when cooked food sits between 41 and 135 degrees, a range food safety regulators call the "temperature danger zone." Chili at 47 degrees and tamales at 109 degrees had been in that zone long enough to be flagged and discarded or reheated. A customer who purchased those items before the inspection had no way of knowing.
The cooling failure in the walk-in cooler adds a separate layer of risk. Beans and tomatoes cooked the previous day and stored in large plastic containers measured 45 degrees, above the 41-degree threshold. Large volumes of food in sealed containers cool slowly, and when they don't drop to safe temperatures within required time windows, bacterial growth can continue even after refrigeration begins. The inspector reviewed cooling methods with the owner and employees on site.
The unlabeled packaged goods from an outside bakery raise a traceability concern. When a product sold at retail lacks the source address, and something goes wrong, there is no clear chain back to where it was made. That gap matters most when a customer gets sick and investigators need to identify the source quickly.
The blocked handwashing sink is a compounding problem. In a kitchen where employees are handling raw meat, cooked food, and ready-to-eat items, a sink that cannot be reached is a sink that doesn't get used. The inspector found it obstructed with containers, utensils, and a sponge.
The Longer Record
The February 2026 inspection was not the first time state inspectors had concerns about this location. Records show a prior FDACS inspection in July 2022 that also cited the store for operating without a valid food permit, the same citation issued in February 2026. That 2022 inspection documented 10 violations.
A focused inspection in October 2024 found zero violations, suggesting the store had addressed outstanding issues at that point. The return of the permit violation and the volume of temperature failures in 2026 indicate the improvement did not hold.
The February 2026 inspection was classified as a re-inspection required, meaning state inspectors were not satisfied that all violations had been resolved before leaving. None of the 19 violations were marked as repeat citations from the immediately preceding inspection, but the operating-without-a-permit finding echoes the 2022 record directly.
What Remained Unresolved
Several violations were corrected during the February inspection, including the temperature failures that prompted stop sale orders, the blocked handwashing sink, and the unlabeled retail packages. But the inspection closed with a re-inspection required notation, meaning the state was not done.
The store had no certified food protection manager on the day inspectors arrived, a requirement that applies regardless of the size of the operation. That violation was not marked corrected on site.
The gap at the back exit door, the mold-like buildup in the walk-in cooler, the insect trap over the prep table, and the missing self-closing restroom door were all still on the books when the inspector left on February 24, 2026.