ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL. A state inspector walked into No 1 Chinese Food at 931 SR 434 N on May 5 and found employees who were not reporting illness symptoms and had no written health policy requiring them to do so, two of the most direct routes by which a food worker transmits Norovirus to every customer who orders that day.
The inspector documented eight high-severity violations and two intermediate violations before leaving. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The illness reporting violations sit at the top of the list because they are systemic, not situational. A cracked floor tile is a maintenance problem. An employee who does not know they are required to report nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting before handling food is a policy problem, and it affects every shift.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited: employees were not washing their hands adequately, and those who did wash were using improper technique. Both were flagged as high-severity. Together they describe a kitchen where the most basic contamination barrier is not functioning.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. The inspector also cited food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, a condition that creates a direct transfer route from one food item to the next. Shellfish identification records were inadequate, meaning the origin of any shellfish served could not be traced.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no health policy and employees not reporting illness is not a paperwork problem. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads almost entirely through infected food handlers who work while symptomatic. A written policy requiring workers to report and stay home is the primary structural defense against that. No 1 Chinese Food did not have one on May 5.
The two handwashing violations compound that risk. Improper technique, specifically washing for too short a time or skipping steps, leaves pathogens on hands even after a worker makes an attempt. When food contact surfaces are also not properly sanitized, there is no secondary checkpoint. Contamination introduced at the handwashing stage moves directly to cutting boards, utensils, and plates.
The shellfish traceability violation carries a different kind of risk. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are among the highest-risk foods in any restaurant kitchen. Without shell stock identification records, there is no way to connect a sick customer to a specific harvest lot or supplier if an outbreak investigation begins.
Toxic chemicals stored improperly near food can cause acute poisoning through direct contamination or mislabeling. It is among the fastest-acting food safety failures, with effects that can appear within minutes of consumption.
The Longer Record
The May 5 inspection did not represent a new low for this restaurant. It represented the continuation of a pattern that state records show stretching back years.
No 1 Chinese Food has accumulated 296 total violations across 29 inspections on record. Every single inspection in the eight most recent visits before May 5 included at least four high-severity violations. The May 2023 inspection produced nine high-severity violations and four intermediate violations, the worst single visit in the recent history. The restaurant has not had a clean inspection in recent memory.
The facility was emergency-closed twice in 2018, both times for roach activity. The first closure came March 26 of that year; the restaurant was allowed to reopen the following day. A second emergency closure followed on April 11, less than three weeks later, again for roaches, and again with a one-day turnaround before reopening.
The November 2025 inspection, the most recent before May 5, found five high-severity violations. The March 2025 inspection before that found five more. The July 2024 inspection found six. In eight consecutive documented inspections spanning roughly three years, the violation count in the high-severity category never dropped below four.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Eight high-severity violations, including sick workers with no reporting protocol and chemicals stored near food, did not meet that threshold on May 5 at this location.
The restaurant at 931 SR 434 N remained open after the inspector left.
Customers who ate there that day had no way of knowing that the workers serving their food were operating without a health policy, that handwashing in the kitchen had been flagged as both inadequate and improperly performed, or that the shellfish on the menu could not be traced to a specific source if anyone got sick.
The record shows 296 violations over 29 inspections. The doors were open.