CLERMONT, FL. Food served at a Clermont buffet on July 31 could not be traced to any approved, inspected source, according to state records, and inspectors found no evidence the restaurant was following procedures to destroy parasites in fish and other high-risk proteins.
New Chinese Buffet Inc. on East Highway 50 drew 13 high-severity violations and 8 intermediate violations in a single inspection that day. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation is among the most serious an inspector can document. When food bypasses USDA and FDA inspection systems, there is no supply chain record to trace if customers become ill. If a Salmonella or Listeria outbreak is later linked to a meal, investigators need that sourcing trail. Without it, they have nothing.
The parasite destruction failure compounds that risk. Fish served without verified freezing or cooking protocols can carry Anisakis larvae or tapeworm. Pork handled without proper parasite controls presents Trichinella risk. These are not theoretical dangers at a buffet where proteins cycle through steam trays over hours.
Inspectors also documented that no employee health policy existed and that employees were not reporting illness symptoms. Those two violations together describe a kitchen where a worker sick with Norovirus faces no formal requirement to stay home and no written protocol telling them to do so.
The person in charge was either absent or not performing duties. Inspectors also found improper handwashing technique and inadequate handwashing facilities, meaning the physical infrastructure for basic hygiene was itself deficient. Toxic chemicals were improperly stored or labeled near the food operation.
On the intermediate side, inspectors cited improper sewage or waste water disposal, a violation that creates fecal contamination risk throughout the facility. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, sanitizing solutions were improper, cooling equipment was inadequate, single-use items were being reused, ventilation and lighting were insufficient, toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained, and equipment was in poor repair.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and failed parasite destruction is particularly dangerous at a buffet. A customer eating fish at New Chinese Buffet on July 31 had no assurance that the fish came from a facility subject to federal inspection or that it had been frozen to the time and temperature thresholds required to kill parasites. Those thresholds exist because parasites in raw or undercooked fish are not visible to the naked eye and are not killed by steam tray heat alone.
The illness-reporting failures create a separate and direct transmission pathway. Norovirus causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a primary vector when no health policy exists to keep symptomatic employees out of the kitchen. At a buffet where a single worker touches shared serving equipment, the exposure multiplier is significant.
Food contact surfaces that are not properly cleaned or sanitized are a mechanism for bacterial transfer across every dish that passes through the kitchen. Combine that with food not cooked to minimum temperature and the result is a facility where pathogens can survive on surfaces and survive in the food itself. The sewage disposal violation adds a third contamination pathway, one that can spread fecal bacteria across surfaces independent of what is being cooked or how.
The Longer Record
New Chinese Buffet: Recent Inspection Pattern
July 31 was not an aberration. State records show 40 inspections on file for this address, with 728 total violations accumulated across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
In February 2025 alone, inspectors visited three times in nine days. The February 17 inspection produced 11 high-severity violations and 6 intermediate violations. The February 18 visit, the very next day, produced 9 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations. A follow-up on February 26 dropped to 2 high-severity violations, but by August 2025 the count was back to 9 high-severity violations, and by October 2025 it was 9 again.
The pattern across the most recent eight inspections is consistent: high-severity violation counts in the range of 8 to 13, with brief dips that do not hold. The July 31 inspection, at 13 high-severity violations, is the worst single-visit count in the recent record.
Still Open
State inspectors documented 13 high-severity violations at New Chinese Buffet on July 31, including food that could not be traced to any approved source, parasite destruction procedures that were not being followed, no written policy to keep sick workers out of the kitchen, and improper storage of toxic chemicals near the food operation.
The restaurant was not closed. It was open for business when the inspection ended.
