MIAMI GARDENS, FL. A state inspector walked into Mr. Baker at 5628 NW 167 St on September 9, 2026, and found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, and employees who were not reporting illness symptoms. When the visit was over, the restaurant remained open.
The inspection logged 10 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations in a single visit. No emergency closure order was issued.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate at Mr. Baker that day. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single undercooked serving is enough to cause serious illness. The inspector documented this as a high-severity finding.
Two separate chemical violations were cited on the same visit. Inspectors found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and also noted toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Those are not the same violation. Chemicals stored near food can contaminate it through spillage or mislabeling, and the consequences are acute, not gradual.
The employee illness reporting failure compounds everything else. When food workers do not report symptoms, they keep handling food while potentially infectious. Norovirus in particular spreads through exactly this pathway, and a single asymptomatic or unreported carrier can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
The inspector also found that parasite destruction procedures had not been followed, food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized, and food was in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. No person in charge was present or performing duties. Employees were using improper handwashing technique, and there was no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooking and no consumer advisory is particularly significant for vulnerable customers. Elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system rely on consumer advisories to make informed decisions about raw or undercooked items. Without that notice, they have no way to know the risk they are taking.
The two chemical violations together suggest a systemic problem, not a single oversight. Improper storage and improper identification are separate failures in separate procedures. Both were present on the same day at Mr. Baker.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning and require specific sanitizing protocols to eliminate. The inspector found that Mr. Baker's sanitizing solution or procedures were also improper, meaning the tools meant to address contamination were themselves not functioning correctly.
The absence of a person in charge performing duties ties all of these findings together. CDC data shows that establishments without active managerial control accumulate critical violations at three times the rate of those with engaged oversight. On September 9, that oversight was absent.
The Longer Record
The September 9 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Mr. Baker has 35 inspections on file and 331 total violations documented across its history. The facility has been emergency-closed once before, in November 2017, for roach activity.
The inspection history from the past year tells a consistent story. On February 27, 2026, inspectors found 9 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. Before that, on July 21, 2025, the facility drew 6 high-severity violations. On October 7, 2025, it was 4 high-severity and 3 intermediate.
The September 9 visit, with 10 high-severity violations, was the worst single inspection in at least the past year. The two follow-up visits, on September 10 and September 11, showed some improvement: 5 high and 4 intermediate on the 10th, then 2 high and 2 intermediate on the 11th. But the September 9 total represents the peak of a pattern that has been building across multiple inspection cycles, not a single bad day.
Three hundred thirty-one violations across 35 inspections is an average of nearly 9.5 violations per visit. The categories that keep appearing, including food safety management failures, surface sanitation problems, and chemical handling, are not new discoveries at this address.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Ten high-severity violations on a single visit at Mr. Baker, including undercooking, chemical mishandling, and an employee illness reporting failure, did not meet that threshold on September 9, 2026.
The restaurant stayed open that day.
