PALMETTO BAY, FL. A state inspection at Maxwell Bros on South Dixie Highway on August 13 found that the restaurant had failed to follow parasite destruction procedures, a violation that means fish, pork, or game meat on the menu could reach customers still harboring live parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm. The restaurant was not closed.
That single finding was one of six high-severity violations documented during the inspection, alongside four intermediate violations. State inspectors left the facility open.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite violation was not the only finding that put customers at immediate risk. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly, meaning cleaning agents or other hazardous substances were in a position to contaminate food through mislabeling or proximity.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touches what customers eat, were documented as not properly cleaned or sanitized. That is a direct pathway for bacterial transfer from one food item to the next.
Inspectors found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. They also noted that the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, which means customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised had no way of knowing what risks they were accepting.
The sixth high-severity citation was for improper hand and arm washing technique. That finding matters because an employee who appears to be washing their hands but does it incorrectly leaves pathogens on their hands just as surely as if they skipped the sink entirely.
The intermediate violations compounded the picture. Improper sewage or wastewater disposal was cited, along with multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is among the most specific biological hazards an inspector can document. When a restaurant serves fish, pork, or wild game without following required freezing or cooking protocols, parasites including Anisakis, tapeworm larvae, and Trichinella can survive and infect anyone who eats that food. Symptoms range from abdominal pain and nausea to serious intestinal damage. The risk is not theoretical. It is tied directly to whether the kitchen followed a specific temperature and time requirement for every applicable item on the menu.
The toxic chemical citation adds a separate and acute hazard. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas can contaminate ingredients or finished dishes through direct contact or mislabeling. A container of cleaner mistaken for a food ingredient, or a chemical stored above a prep surface, does not require a large exposure to cause serious harm.
The combination of improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and improperly cleaned multi-use utensils at Maxwell Bros creates a cross-contamination environment where bacteria from raw proteins can transfer to ready-to-eat food. Bacterial biofilms on utensils are particularly dangerous because they are resistant to standard cleaning once established, meaning the problem does not resolve with a single wash.
The sewage disposal violation carries a distinct category of risk. Improper handling of wastewater introduces fecal contamination pathways into a facility, and raw sewage contains pathogens including E. coli, Salmonella, and Hepatitis A. The inadequate toilet facilities citation compounds this, because employees who lack functional restroom infrastructure are less likely to complete proper handwashing before returning to food preparation.
The Longer Record
The August 13 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Maxwell Bros has been inspected 19 times and has accumulated 92 total violations. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The inspection history shows a pattern that goes back at least two years without meaningful resolution. On March 13, 2026, five months before the August inspection, inspectors documented the identical violation count: 6 high-severity and 4 intermediate. The findings on August 13 were not a deterioration from the prior visit. They were a repetition of it.
Before that, in October 2025, the restaurant drew 3 high and 4 intermediate violations. In February 2025, it was 4 high and 3 intermediate. In November 2024, inspectors visited on back-to-back days, finding 5 high and 6 intermediate violations on November 19, then 1 high and 3 intermediate on November 20, a follow-up that still left high-severity findings on the books.
The March 2026 inspection and the August 2026 inspection are particularly notable because they are identical in structure: 6 high, 4 intermediate. Whatever corrections were made between those two visits, they did not prevent the same severity profile from recurring five months later.
Maxwell Bros has never triggered an emergency closure across 19 inspections and 92 documented violations. After the August 13 inspection, it remained open.
