TAMPA, FL. Back in February 2026, state agriculture inspectors walked into Naina Mart on a routine check and found the Tampa convenience store was operating without a valid food permit, a condition that state law prohibits outright under Florida Statute 500.12.
That was not the only problem inspectors documented that day.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector's notes on the temperature violation are specific: milk recently placed on a shelf nearest the walk-in cooler door measured 44 degrees Fahrenheit, three degrees above the 41-degree maximum required for cold held time/temperature control for safety foods. The milk was relocated to the freezer during the inspection to quick-chill it back to a safe temperature before being returned to proper refrigeration.
The store also had no probe thermometer anywhere on the premises. That violation was marked both repeat and priority-foundation, meaning inspectors had cited the same deficiency before and consider it foundational to safe food handling. According to the inspector's notes, a probe thermometer was obtained during the inspection itself.
Two additional violations rounded out the five-item citation list. Inspectors found no handwashing sign posted at the sink in the restroom, a basic requirement for food establishments, and no handwashing sink in the back room where the three-compartment warewashing sink is located. The industry handwash sign was provided and posted before inspectors left.
No Permit, No Exceptions
The permit violation stands apart from the others. Florida law requires every food establishment to hold a valid permit before operating, and the inspector's notes make clear the store was actively selling food without one at the time of the February 17 visit.
The notes indicate an application for a food permit had already been submitted. Inspectors directed the store to remit payment of the appropriate fee within ten days and provided a contact number at the state's Business Center for follow-up.
Operating without a permit means the facility had not been formally cleared by the state to sell food to the public during that period, regardless of what its shelves contained.
What These Violations Mean
The temperature violation is the most direct public health concern for anyone who shopped at Naina Mart around the time of this inspection. Milk held at 44 degrees instead of 41 degrees may seem like a narrow margin, but bacterial growth in dairy accelerates as temperature rises above the safe threshold. The longer a product sits above 41 degrees, the faster pathogens like Listeria and Salmonella can multiply to levels that cause illness. Shoppers who purchased milk from that walk-in cooler, particularly from the shelf nearest the door, had no way of knowing the product had been held above the safe temperature limit.
The repeat citation for no probe thermometer is directly connected to that temperature failure. Without a calibrated thermometer that staff can use to check food temperatures, a store has no reliable way to catch a cold-hold problem before a customer does. Inspectors had flagged this gap before, and it had not been corrected by the time of the February visit.
The missing handwashing sink in the back room is a structural concern. State rules require handwashing access in areas where employees work, specifically to prevent cross-contamination between handling tasks. The inspector noted the store does not offer exposed foods for retail sale, which limits but does not eliminate the risk, since employees still handle packaging, equipment, and surfaces throughout the facility.
The Longer Record
The February 17, 2026 inspection was categorized as an "Operating Without a Valid Food Permit" visit, meaning it was triggered specifically because the store lacked the required permit, not as a standard scheduled inspection. That context matters. The store was not flagged by a complaint or a tip about food safety conditions; it was found operating outside the law on a basic licensing requirement.
The repeat designation on the probe thermometer violation is the most telling detail in the inspection record. A violation earns that label only when inspectors have documented the same deficiency on a prior visit and found it unresolved. For a small convenience store with a limited number of inspections on record, having a repeat violation in a priority-foundation category indicates the store had been told to fix this before and had not done so by February.
None of the five violations documented on February 17 were corrected on site in the formal sense recorded by inspectors. The notes show that individual items, including the milk temperature and the missing handwash sign and the missing thermometer, were addressed during the visit itself. But the underlying permit violation, and the structural absence of a handwashing sink in the back room, were not resolved on the spot.
The store was given ten days to bring its permit fee current. Whether it did so, and whether a follow-up inspection confirmed full compliance, is not reflected in the February 17 record.