TAMPA, FL. Back in March 2026, state inspectors walked into Madelyn's Bakery, a retail bakery with food service on Tampa's east side, and found the establishment operating without a valid food permit, with roach activity observed on site, and meat and chicken empanadas that had been sitting in a cooler overnight measuring internal temperatures of 51°F and 47°F.
The March 19 inspection by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services resulted in 37 total violations, 7 of them priority level. Zero were corrected on site before the inspection concluded. A re-inspection was required.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector's own notes described the permit situation plainly: "Establishment was found to be operating without a food permit and has not provided proof of sewer approval and water source. And Roach activity observed." Two Stop Use Orders were issued tied to pest contamination, and two Stop Sale Orders were issued for foods that had failed to cool to safe temperatures.
Inspectors found cooked chicken and empanadas that had been cooling since the prior day still measuring 51°F and 47°F. Safe cooling standards require cooked food to drop from 135°F to 70°F within two hours, and then to 41°F or below within six hours total. The inspector noted the chicken had been placed in a deep, tightly covered container, a method that traps heat rather than releasing it. The owner voluntarily discarded all affected food while the inspector watched.
Employees were observed entering the kitchen to heat and serve food without first washing their hands. When the inspector intervened, staff washed their hands at a sink in the adjacent wholesale area. Food service was terminated during the inspection.
There was no handwashing sink in the warewashing area, the processing area, or the service and sandwich-making area. The restroom handwashing sink had no hot water. There was no hand-washing sign posted anywhere in the establishment.
The stand-alone kitchen cooler was not holding food at or below the required 41°F, with an ambient temperature measured at 44°F. Milk held inside measured 44°F. The cooler temperature was lowered to 39°F during the inspection, and the milk was quick-chilled in the freezer.
An employee was observed cleaning dishes without sanitizing them. The inspector demonstrated sanitizer preparation and testing on site. Separately, the inspector found that the establishment had no test kit to measure sanitizer concentration at all, a gap that was corrected when test strips were obtained during the visit.
The physical structure of the bakery raised additional concerns. The inspector noted there was no wall separating the bakery from a wholesale business next door, with the areas open to each other behind the warewashing and coffee processing sections. A dividing wall between the kitchen and the front service area was described as an unfinished bare wood frame. A gap at the bottom of the roll-up receiving door did not seal against pest entry.
Black mold-like accumulation was documented on the outer wall of the walk-in cooler. Old food buildup was found on shelving inside the stand-alone cooler and in the sliding doors of the dessert display cases. Grease had built up on a metal divider behind the fryers because no hood system was installed above them.
What These Violations Mean
Operating without a valid food permit is not a paperwork technicality. The permit process requires a facility to demonstrate that its water source and sewage disposal are safe and approved. Without that verification, there is no baseline assurance that the water used to wash food, hands, and equipment is safe. The roach activity documented during the same inspection compounds that concern, because insects carry pathogens directly onto food-contact surfaces and into food itself.
The cooling failures at Madelyn's Bakery represent one of the most direct paths to foodborne illness in any food establishment. Cooked chicken and empanadas that sat overnight and still measured above 47°F had spent hours in the temperature range where bacteria like Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens multiply rapidly. The fact that the cooler holding those foods was also running at 44°F ambient, above the 41°F maximum, means the environment was not capable of finishing the cooling process even if it had started correctly.
Employees not washing hands before handling food, combined with no handwashing sinks in the areas where food is prepared and served, removes one of the most basic barriers between contamination and the customer. When a facility also lacks hot water at its only restroom sink, the infrastructure for basic hygiene simply is not present.
The absence of date marking on cooked chicken, opened milk, and empanadas means there was no way for staff or inspectors to know how long those foods had been held. Without that information, food that has exceeded safe holding times can be served without anyone catching it.
The Longer Record
The March 19 inspection was not the first time this location had drawn scrutiny. State records show seven inspections at this address going back to December 2022. A June 2025 inspection resulted in two violations and a re-inspection requirement. A July 2025 visit found the facility meeting sanitation requirements.
The March 19 inspection was by far the most serious in the facility's documented history, with 37 violations in a single visit. A same-day re-inspection on March 19 found one violation and also required a follow-up. Two focused inspections on March 23 found zero violations each, and an April 2 inspection found one violation with the facility meeting sanitation requirements.
That rapid turnaround from 37 violations to passing status within two weeks is notable. The March 19 inspection found a facility without a permit, without adequate infrastructure, and with active pest activity. None of the 37 violations were corrected on site before the inspection ended that day.