HIALEAH, FL. Inspectors visiting Nueva San Salvador Restaurant #1 on Hialeah Drive on July 29, 2026, documented food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella can survive the cooking process and land on a customer's plate alive.
The restaurant was cited for seven high-severity violations and five intermediate violations. State inspectors left the facility open.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food violation was not the only finding that put customers directly at risk. Inspectors also cited the restaurant because employees were not required to report symptoms of illness, which means a sick worker had no established system pushing them to stay out of the kitchen.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards and prep tables that touch every ingredient before it reaches a customer, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Improperly cleaned surfaces are a primary vehicle for transferring bacteria from one food item to another.
The handwashing violation adds another layer. Without adequate handwashing facilities in place, the basic step of an employee washing their hands between tasks becomes structurally impossible, regardless of intent.
Inspectors also found that the restaurant was using time as a public health control without doing so properly. That practice allows food to sit in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, for a defined window instead of being held at a safe temperature. When the documentation and procedures behind that practice break down, food can remain in that range far longer than is safe.
No person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection. The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory notifying customers that raw or undercooked items were on the menu.
On the intermediate side, inspectors documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, inadequate ventilation and lighting, improper use of wiping cloths, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and no illness-reporting system is the kind of pairing that public health officials point to when explaining how foodborne outbreaks start. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If a sick employee is also handling food that never reaches a safe internal temperature, the conditions for a multi-victim outbreak are present before a single plate leaves the kitchen.
The missing consumer advisory matters most to specific customers, including elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Those groups face the most severe consequences from foodborne illness, and the advisory exists specifically to let them make an informed choice about ordering raw or undercooked items. Without it, they have no way to know the risk.
Improper sewage disposal is not a paperwork issue. Raw sewage carries pathogens including E. coli and hepatitis A. When wastewater is not disposed of correctly inside a food preparation environment, fecal contamination can reach food surfaces, equipment, and the hands of employees.
The inadequate cooling equipment finding compounds the temperature violations already cited. A restaurant that cannot properly hold cold food and is also misusing time as a public health control has, in effect, two overlapping systems failing to keep food out of the temperature danger zone at the same time.
The Longer Record
July 29 was not an outlier for this restaurant. State records show 28 inspections on file for the 944 Hialeah Drive location, with 347 total violations accumulated across that history.
The inspection in March 2026, four months before this one, produced 13 high-severity violations and 5 intermediate violations, the highest single-visit high-severity count in the recent record. January 2025 brought 7 high-severity violations, matching this week's total exactly. March 2024 produced 10 high-severity violations. December 2023 produced 8.
The pattern across those visits is consistent: high-severity violation counts in the single digits or above, with brief stretches of lower findings in between. The May 2026 inspection, the most recent before July 29, showed zero high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. That result lasted roughly 12 weeks before this inspection produced seven high-severity citations.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record.
Open for Business
Seven high-severity violations, including food not cooked to a safe temperature and no system for employees to report illness symptoms, were not enough to trigger an emergency closure on July 29.
The restaurant at 944 Hialeah Drive remained open after inspectors completed their visit.
