MIAMI, FL. Inspectors visiting Marabu at 701 S Miami Ave on May 26 found food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, meaning none of it had passed through the federal inspection chain that would allow health officials to trace it if customers got sick.
That was one of 12 high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The shellfish violations were among the most specific. Inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification and records, meaning oysters, clams, or mussels served at the restaurant could not be traced to a certified harvesting source. Shellfish are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and without harvest tags, there is no way to identify the origin if a customer falls ill.
Parasite destruction procedures were also flagged as not followed. For fish served raw or undercooked, state rules require documented freezing at specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm. No such documentation was in order.
Inspectors also found that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and that time as a public health control was not being used correctly. When a restaurant uses time rather than temperature to keep food safe, it must follow a strict written plan. That plan was not being followed here.
The toxic substances violation added another layer. Chemicals stored or used improperly near food preparation areas create a contamination risk that has nothing to do with bacteria or parasites.
Four intermediate violations accompanied the high-severity findings: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is, according to federal disease data, the architecture of a multi-victim outbreak. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads most efficiently when a sick food worker handles food without restriction. At Marabu, both the policy that would require workers to report symptoms and the reporting behavior itself were cited as absent on the same inspection.
Inadequate handwashing compounds that risk directly. Improper handwashing is considered the single most significant behavioral factor in foodborne illness transmission. Combined with improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, the pathways for bacterial transfer from worker to food to customer multiply.
The food from unapproved sources violation carries a specific consequence that the others do not: it eliminates the ability to investigate. If a customer who ate at Marabu in the days around May 26 becomes ill, and the food that made them sick came from an uninspected source, tracing the contamination backward becomes nearly impossible. There are no harvest records, no USDA inspection stamps, no supply chain documentation to follow.
Undercooking violations mean that whatever pathogens were present in the food, including Salmonella in poultry, which survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, were not destroyed before the food reached a plate.
The Longer Record
Marabu Inspection History: High-Severity Violations Over Time
The May 2026 inspection was not an aberration. State records show Marabu has accumulated 166 total violations across 16 inspections on record, and high-severity violations have appeared in every inspection documented going back to September 2022.
The counts tell a consistent story. Seven high-severity violations in September 2022. Eight in January 2023. Five each in January and October 2024. Seven in September 2025. Six in March 2026. Then 12 in May 2026, the highest single-inspection total in the available record.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in the violation categories is also consistent. The employee illness and handwashing violations that appeared in May 2026 are not the kind of citation a restaurant accumulates once and corrects. They reflect whether a management system exists at all. Inspectors on May 26 specifically cited the person in charge as not present or not performing duties, a finding that correlates, according to CDC data, with three times as many critical violations at a given establishment.
Sixteen inspections. One hundred sixty-six violations. Twelve high-severity findings on the most recent visit.
Marabu remained open after inspectors left on May 26.