POMPANO BEACH, FL. Inspectors visiting Miami Subs #22 on West Atlantic Boulevard on September 8 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that state records flag as one of the most serious a food service operation can receive. The restaurant was not emergency-closed. It continued serving customers.
The September inspection produced six high-severity violations and one intermediate, a tally that placed this location among the more troubled food service sites documented in Broward County this inspection cycle.
What Inspectors Found
The food-sourcing violation drew the most serious concern. When a restaurant obtains food from suppliers outside the regulated USDA and FDA inspection system, there is no chain of documentation to trace contamination back to its origin if customers become ill.
Inspectors also cited the location for food in poor condition, described in state records as spoiled, contaminated, mislabeled, or adulterated. That violation appeared alongside a separate citation for inadequate shell stock identification, meaning shellfish on hand lacked the tagging records required to trace oysters, clams, or mussels to a certified harvest source.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and equipment that touch food directly, were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. That finding matters because bacteria transferred from an unsanitized surface to food can survive to the point of service.
The citation for improper handwashing technique is distinct from failing to wash hands at all. State records note that even when an employee makes a handwashing attempt, incorrect technique leaves pathogens on hands that are then transferred to food and surfaces. The sixth high-severity violation was the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, a posting required so that vulnerable customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems, can make informed decisions before ordering.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is not a paperwork problem. When food enters a commercial kitchen from outside the federal and state inspection network, there is no audit trail. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the illness to a farm, a processing facility, or a distributor. Listeria and Salmonella outbreaks have been linked precisely to this gap in traceability, and the violation at Miami Subs #22 means that gap existed on September 8.
The shell stock identification failure compounds that risk specifically for shellfish. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, and they are filter feeders, meaning they concentrate whatever pathogens exist in the water where they were harvested. State law requires certified harvest tags to remain attached to shellfish containers throughout service. Without those records, there is no way to know where the shellfish came from or whether the harvest area was approved for human consumption.
Unsanitized food contact surfaces create a direct pathway from prior contamination to the next item prepared on that surface. Raw meat residue, allergen proteins, or bacterial colonies on a cutting board or prep table transfer to whatever food is placed there next. Combined with improper handwashing technique, the two violations identified at this location describe a kitchen where cross-contamination pathways were open at multiple points simultaneously.
The missing consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods is the last line of defense for customers who might otherwise unknowingly order something their immune system cannot handle. Its absence is a regulatory failure with a specific human cost, because the people most at risk from undercooked proteins are also the people least equipped to recover from the resulting illness.
The Longer Record
The September 8 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Miami Subs #22 has accumulated 128 total violations across 22 inspections on file, a rate that works out to nearly six violations per visit on average.
High-severity violations have appeared in every single inspection documented in the prior history. The location drew four high-severity citations in July 2025, four more in July 2024, four in December 2022, and four in October 2022. There has not been a single inspection in the available record where this location came in clean on the most serious category of violations.
The September 2026 inspection, with six high-severity citations, represents the highest single-visit high-severity count in the documented history. The prior peak across the eight most recent inspections was four.
The location has never been emergency-closed. In 22 inspections and 128 total violations, state records show zero emergency closure orders. After the September 8 visit, that remained true.
Still Open
Six high-severity violations in a single inspection. Food from unapproved sources. Shellfish with no harvest records. Surfaces that were not properly sanitized. Employees washing their hands the wrong way.
State inspectors documented all of it on September 8 at Miami Subs #22 on West Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach.
The restaurant was not closed.
