DUNEDIN, FL. A state inspector walked into Mami Mia Coffee on Bayshore Boulevard on September 14 and found that the establishment had no records identifying where its shellfish came from, no consumer warning that raw or undercooked items were on the menu, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. The inspector cited seven high-severity violations before leaving. The coffee shop stayed open.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish violation stands out in a coffee shop setting. State records show the facility had no shell stock identification tags or purchase records, meaning there was no way to trace where oysters, clams, or mussels came from if a customer got sick.
Inspectors also found that food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, a direct pathway for bacteria to move from one food to the next. On top of that, employees were documented using improper handwashing technique, and the handwashing facilities themselves were cited as inadequate.
No person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection. There was also no written employee health policy in place.
The two intermediate violations added to the picture. Single-use items were being reused, and the toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained, a condition that discourages the kind of restroom handwashing that helps keep pathogens from reaching food.
What These Violations Mean
The shellfish traceability violation is among the most consequential in the record. Shellfish are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and they filter large volumes of water, concentrating whatever bacteria or viruses are present. Without purchase records and identification tags, there is no way to connect a sick customer to a contaminated harvest lot or a recalled source. If someone at Mami Mia Coffee contracted Vibrio or hepatitis A from improperly sourced shellfish, investigators would have no paper trail to follow.
The food contact surface violation compounds the shellfish risk. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and equipment that are not properly sanitized between uses transfer bacteria directly onto the next food item prepared on them. This is not a theoretical pathway. It is how Salmonella and E. coli move from raw protein to ready-to-eat food in the same kitchen.
The handwashing failures, both the inadequate facilities and the improper technique, matter because handwashing is the most basic intervention between an infected employee and the food being served. CDC data cited in the inspection record indicates that improper technique leaves pathogens on hands even when a washing attempt is made. When the facilities themselves are also cited as inadequate, that attempt becomes even less effective.
The absence of a written employee health policy removes the mechanism that would keep a sick worker out of the kitchen in the first place. Without a policy, there is no formal expectation that an employee with Norovirus symptoms stays home. Norovirus accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food service workers are a primary transmission route.
The Longer Record
The September 14 inspection was not the first time Mami Mia Coffee accumulated serious violations in a short period. State records show the facility has been inspected 24 times and has logged 192 total violations across its history. It has never been emergency-closed.
The most comparable single inspection came on April 3, 2026, just five months earlier, when inspectors cited 11 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. A follow-up visit three days later, on April 6, showed 1 high violation remaining. That rapid turnaround suggested corrections were made, but the September inspection shows the facility did not sustain those corrections.
Two inspections in August 2025 found zero high or intermediate violations on either visit. That clean stretch makes the September 2026 findings harder to attribute to chronic neglect alone. Seven high-severity violations, including structural failures like inadequate handwashing facilities and no employee health policy, represent a significant regression from a facility that had passed cleanly the year before.
The pattern that does hold across multiple years is the severity of the high points. The April 2024 inspection found 4 high violations. The April 2026 inspection found 11. September 2026 found 7. The facility cycles between clean inspections and clusters of serious citations, without ever crossing the threshold that triggers an emergency closure.
Still Open
State records do not indicate that the September 14 inspection prompted a closure order or an immediate follow-up inspection date. Mami Mia Coffee, which had no person in charge present when inspectors arrived, no shellfish sourcing records, no employee health policy, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly sanitized, remained open for business on Bayshore Boulevard in Dunedin.
