DORAL, FL. State inspectors walked into Mission BBQ on NW 41st Street on September 17 and found that food was not being cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that puts every customer who ordered meat that day at direct risk of consuming live pathogens.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented in a single inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The cooking temperature violation is the one that should alarm anyone who ate there that day. At a barbecue restaurant, the primary product is meat, and meat not brought to the required minimum temperature is meat that may still carry live Salmonella, E. coli, or other pathogens capable of causing serious illness.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant twice for chemical violations: toxic substances improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two separate chemical violations in a single visit points to a systemic breakdown in how the facility handles cleaning agents and other hazardous materials, not a single oversight.
The handwashing violation compounds the cooking failure. Inspectors documented improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning employees were going through the motions of handwashing without actually removing pathogens. Combined with undercooked food, that creates two simultaneous contamination pathways in the same kitchen.
Inspectors also found no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. At a restaurant where undercooked food was simultaneously being documented, customers had no way of knowing they needed to make an informed choice about what they ordered.
The intermediate violations included improper sewage or wastewater disposal and the reuse of single-use items. Neither is trivial. Raw sewage exposure anywhere in a food facility is a fecal contamination risk that extends well beyond the point of the leak.
What These Violations Mean
The cooking temperature violation is not a paperwork problem. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a barbecue restaurant serving chicken, brisket, and ribs, any failure to reach required internal temperatures means customers are consuming food that may still carry live bacteria capable of causing hospitalization.
The two chemical violations, taken together, describe a kitchen where toxic substances were not properly separated from food, not properly labeled, or not properly used. The risk is not theoretical. Mislabeled or improperly stored chemicals have caused acute poisoning when they contaminated food or were mistaken for food-safe products.
The shellfish traceability violation carries a different kind of danger. Without proper shell stock identification records, there is no chain of custody for oysters, clams, or mussels served at the facility. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot trace the shellfish back to the source harvest bed, which means an outbreak could spread undetected.
The sewage disposal violation is the kind that inspectors treat as immediately serious. Improper wastewater disposal can introduce fecal contamination to surfaces, equipment, and food contact areas throughout a facility. It is not a violation that stays contained to one corner of the kitchen.
The Longer Record
The September 17 inspection was not an aberration. It was the worst single visit in a pattern that stretches across eight inspections and 39 total violations on record.
The facility's first inspection on record, in February 2024, was clean: zero high-severity violations, zero intermediate violations. By November 2024, inspectors were citing the location for five high-severity violations and two intermediate ones in a single visit. The restaurant has not returned to a clean inspection since.
The record by year is consistent in one direction. July 2025 brought two inspections in consecutive days: three high-severity and three intermediate violations on July 11, followed by one high-severity violation on July 12. December 2025 added four more high-severity citations. The September 17 inspection, with six high-severity violations, is the highest single-visit count in the facility's history.
A follow-up inspection on September 29, twelve days after the six-violation visit, found two high-severity violations and one intermediate. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
State inspectors documented six high-severity violations at Mission BBQ in Doral on September 17, including undercooking, two separate chemical storage failures, a handwashing technique failure, missing consumer advisories, and a shellfish traceability breakdown. They also found improper sewage disposal and reuse of single-use items.
The restaurant served customers that day, and every day after.
