CLEARWATER, FL. A state inspector visiting Nine Spices Hot Pot on Countryside Boulevard on August 25 documented food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, meaning there is no way to trace where that food came from if a customer gets sick. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
The inspection turned up 12 high-severity violations and 3 intermediate violations in a single visit. That count includes failures that food safety officials link directly to multi-victim outbreaks: no written employee health policy, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and food not cooked to required minimum temperatures.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also cited inadequate shell stock identification records. Hot pot restaurants frequently serve shellfish, including items eaten raw or lightly cooked at the table. Without proper tags and records, there is no way to identify the harvest source if a shellfish-linked illness is reported.
Parasite destruction procedures were not followed. For a restaurant that serves raw or undercooked fish as a core part of its menu, that violation means customers may have been exposed to parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm, which survive in fish that has not been properly frozen before service.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled. No allergen awareness was demonstrated by staff. The person in charge was either not present or not performing duties, a failure the state links to higher rates of every other type of critical violation.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Multi-use utensils also failed the cleaning standard, one of three intermediate violations cited on the same visit.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and an employee not reporting illness symptoms is the pairing that food safety officials most directly connect to multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads efficiently when infected food workers handle food without restriction. A written health policy is the mechanism that keeps a sick employee out of the kitchen. Without one, there is no documented standard for anyone to follow.
Food from unapproved sources carries a specific danger that extends beyond the meal itself. When food bypasses USDA and FDA inspection channels, it cannot be traced if a customer becomes ill. That means investigators cannot identify other affected customers, cannot issue recalls, and cannot determine whether an outbreak has a common source. The shellfish traceability failure compounds that risk: oysters, clams, and mussels consumed raw or lightly cooked at a hot pot table are among the highest-risk foods in any restaurant setting.
Undercooking violations at a hot pot restaurant carry particular weight. The format encourages customers to cook their own food in a shared broth, and the line between adequately cooked and undercooked is easy to miss without guidance from staff. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the restaurant is not meeting minimum cooking temperatures in its own kitchen preparation, there is no reason to expect the table-side cooking process to compensate.
The absence of any consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods means elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system had no warning that the food they ordered carried elevated risk.
The Longer Record
Nine Spices Hot Pot: Recent Inspection History
The August 25 inspection was not an isolated event. State records show Nine Spices Hot Pot has accumulated 394 total violations across 29 inspections on file. Every inspection in 2025 and 2026 for which records are available has produced high-severity violations, ranging from 6 to 12 per visit.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, in March 2015, for roach activity. It reopened the next day. The pattern since then has not been a restaurant correcting course. The 2025 inspections alone show 7, 8, 10, and 7 high-severity violations across four separate visits. The categories repeat: management failures, illness policies, food sourcing, temperature control.
The follow-up inspection on August 27, two days after the 12-violation visit, found 6 high-severity violations still in place.
The restaurant remained open throughout.
