MIAMI, FL. State inspectors walked into Maya's Kitchen 305 at 9706 SW 40 St. on October 8 and documented food that was not cooked to required minimum temperatures, a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures, and toxic chemicals stored improperly near food. They counted seven high-severity violations before they were done. The restaurant was not closed.
That detail sits at the center of what the October 8 inspection record shows: a facility with a documented pattern of serious violations, operating through another round of them.
What Inspectors Found
The most direct threat to anyone who ate there that day was the failure to cook food to required minimum temperatures. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The violation means food was served before those temperatures were reached.
Inspectors also cited a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures. Fish, pork, and wild game can carry Anisakis, tapeworm, and Trichinella, parasites that survive without proper freezing or cooking. The citation means neither safeguard was confirmed in place.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That is a direct contamination risk, not a paperwork issue.
The facility also had no written employee health policy, inadequate handwashing facilities, and documented improper handwashing technique. All three violations were cited on the same day, in the same kitchen.
There was no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items, meaning customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children had no written notice that undercooked food was being served.
Four intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: improper sewage or wastewater disposal, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and failed parasite destruction procedures in a single inspection is not routine. Undercooking is among the leading causes of foodborne illness in the United States. When parasite destruction procedures are also absent, the risk compounds: a customer eating fish or pork that was neither properly frozen nor cooked to temperature has no protection against internal parasites that cause serious gastrointestinal illness.
The handwashing violations deserve equal weight. Inadequate facilities means the infrastructure to wash hands properly was not available. Improper technique means that even when an attempt was made, it was done wrong. These two violations together, alongside the absence of an employee health policy, describe a kitchen where a sick worker had no written obligation to report illness and no reliable means of keeping pathogens off their hands.
Improper sewage disposal is not a minor infrastructure citation. Raw sewage carries fecal bacteria including E. coli and Hepatitis A. A sewage violation in a food preparation environment creates a contamination pathway that can reach surfaces, equipment, and food directly.
Wiping cloths, when used improperly, move contamination from one surface to another rather than removing it. That violation, combined with single-use items being reused and inadequate ventilation allowing grease and vapor accumulation, describes a facility where cross-contamination was a structural condition on October 8, not an isolated incident.
The Longer Record
The October 8 inspection was not the first time inspectors found serious problems at Maya's Kitchen 305. State records show 22 inspections on file and 215 total violations documented across the facility's history.
The pattern of high-severity violations is not new. Inspectors cited seven high-severity violations on February 25, 2025, the same count as October 8. Before that, the facility logged seven high-severity violations on October 22, 2024, followed by four high-severity violations the very next day, October 23, and two more on October 24. Three consecutive inspections in three days, all with high-severity findings.
That October 2024 sequence is worth pausing on. Inspectors returned on back-to-back-to-back days and found serious violations each time.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history, despite accumulating 215 violations across 22 inspections. The February 2026 inspection showed only one high-severity violation, a relative low point. Eight months later, the count was back to seven.
Still Open
Florida's inspection system allows facilities to remain open after high-severity violations when inspectors determine the findings do not meet the threshold for emergency closure. That threshold involves imminent threat to public health.
What the October 8 record shows is a restaurant serving food that was not cooked to minimum safe temperatures, without parasite destruction procedures in place, with toxic chemicals near food, without adequate handwashing infrastructure, and without a policy requiring sick workers to stay home.
Maya's Kitchen 305 was not closed after that inspection. It remained open.
