MARGATE, FL. State inspectors cited Nakama Sushi on West Sample Road for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures on July 28, a violation that means raw or lightly cooked fish may have reached customers without the freezing or cooking steps required to kill Anisakis worms and tapeworm larvae.
The restaurant collected six high-severity violations and three intermediate violations during that single visit. It was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
Alongside the parasite destruction failure, inspectors cited the restaurant for sourcing food from unapproved or unknown suppliers. That violation appeared on the same inspection sheet as a finding that food on the premises was in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated.
Inspectors also flagged inadequate shell stock identification records. Nakama Sushi is a sushi restaurant, meaning shellfish, including oysters and clams, are plausible menu items. Without proper tagging records, there is no way to trace a contaminated batch back to its harvest bed if customers fall ill.
The remaining high-severity violations covered an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Three intermediate violations rounded out the report: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, improper sanitizing solution or procedures, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction citation is particularly acute at a sushi restaurant, where fish is routinely served raw or lightly seared. Federal guidelines require that fish intended for raw consumption be frozen to specific temperatures for specific durations to kill parasites such as Anisakis roundworms and tapeworm larvae. When those steps are skipped or undocumented, there is no safety net between the fish and the customer's plate.
The unapproved food source violation compounds that risk. Food sourced outside the regulated supply chain has not been inspected by USDA or FDA personnel. If a contaminated shipment arrives, inspectors have no records to trace it, and public health officials trying to identify the origin of an outbreak have nowhere to start.
The employee illness reporting failure is a separate and direct transmission risk. Norovirus, which is shed in large quantities by infected food handlers, can contaminate surfaces and food before a worker shows any visible symptoms. A restaurant without a functioning illness reporting system has no mechanism to remove an infected employee from food preparation before the exposure occurs.
The food contact surface and utensil cleaning violations connect to both of those risks. Improperly cleaned cutting boards, sushi prep mats, and knife handles can transfer bacteria and viral particles from one batch of food to the next. At a facility already cited for contaminated surfaces and improperly sanitized solutions in the same inspection, that transfer pathway was functioning on multiple levels simultaneously.
The Longer Record
The July 28 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Nakama Sushi has been inspected 28 times and has accumulated 161 total violations across that history.
The most recent inspections tell a consistent story. Inspectors found five high-severity violations in February 2025, seven high-severity violations in October 2024, and four high-severity violations in October 2025. The only clean inspection in the recent record was January 2024, when the facility logged zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in June 2016, after inspectors found roach activity. It was allowed to reopen four days later. That closure stands as the only enforcement action beyond a standard citation in a record spanning a decade.
Open for Business
Six high-severity violations in a single inspection is a significant threshold. The October 2024 visit produced seven, which remains the peak in the recent record. The July 2026 visit, at six, is the second-highest single-inspection total in the past two years.
The violations documented on July 28, including an unknown food source, no parasite destruction records, and an employee who had not reported illness symptoms, are exactly the combination that public health officials identify as outbreak preconditions. Each violation independently raises the probability of a foodborne illness event. Together, they describe a kitchen where multiple safety systems were not functioning on the same day.
Nakama Sushi remained open after the inspection.
