MELBOURNE, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Melbourne Seafood Station on Palm Bay Road and documented food that had not been cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that means pathogens capable of causing serious illness were potentially surviving on plates headed to customers.
That was one of seven high-severity violations recorded during the April 7 inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The temperature violation stood alongside two separate chemical storage failures. Inspectors cited the facility for toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and separately for toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two distinct citations for chemical hazards in a single visit indicates the problem was not isolated to one corner of the kitchen.
The handwashing record was equally striking. Inspectors cited employees for inadequate handwashing and, in a separate violation, for improper hand and arm washing technique. That is not the same failure documented twice. The first means employees were skipping handwashing steps entirely. The second means that even when employees attempted to wash their hands, they were doing it wrong.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and the facility had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items. Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The cooking temperature violation is among the most direct risks a restaurant can create for its customers. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a seafood restaurant, undercooking fish or shellfish can leave Vibrio bacteria alive, an organism that causes severe gastrointestinal illness and, in people with liver disease or weakened immune systems, can be fatal. There is no warning sign when food looks and smells normal but has not reached a safe internal temperature.
The dual handwashing failures at Melbourne Seafood Station compound that risk. Hands are the most common transfer point for pathogens between raw product, surfaces, and finished plates. When employees are neither washing adequately nor using correct technique, every surface they touch after handling raw seafood becomes a potential contamination point.
The two chemical storage violations add a separate and acute hazard. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food create the possibility of direct contamination, whether through a spill, mislabeling, or a cleaning product mistaken for a food-safe solution. Chemical poisoning from this type of cross-storage does not require a large dose to cause serious harm.
The sewage disposal violation is the one that tends to get overlooked in a long list. Raw sewage contains E. coli, Hepatitis A, and norovirus. Improper disposal means those pathogens have a pathway into the facility environment, onto surfaces, and potentially into food.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Melbourne Seafood Station has been inspected 26 times and has accumulated 180 total violations across that history, with zero emergency closures.
The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent across recent years. In November 2024, inspectors found nine high-severity violations in one visit, followed by a callback inspection three days later that still turned up four more high-severity citations. In November 2025, the facility logged ten high-severity violations in a single inspection, the highest single-visit count in the recent record.
April 2025 produced seven high-severity violations and two intermediate ones, a result that is identical in structure to the April 2026 inspection. A clean visit in June 2025 was followed within eight days by five high-severity violations at the next inspection.
The facility has never been emergency-closed despite this accumulation. That is a fact the record contains without explanation.
Still Open
The April 7, 2026 inspection ended with inspectors documenting seven high-severity violations and two intermediate ones at a restaurant that serves seafood, a food category where temperature and sanitation failures carry some of the most serious health consequences in the industry.
Melbourne Seafood Station was not closed.
Customers who ate there in the days surrounding that inspection had no way of knowing food had not been cooked to required temperatures, that chemicals were stored improperly near food, or that the employees preparing their meals were not washing their hands correctly. No consumer advisory was posted to inform them that raw or undercooked items carried additional risk.
The restaurant had 180 violations across 26 inspections and had never once been shut down. After April 7, that number climbed to at least 189.