TAMPA, FL. A food worker who doesn't report illness symptoms is, according to state health records, the number one cause of multi-victim outbreaks, and on June 2, 2026, inspectors documented exactly that violation at NY NY Pizza on E 7th Avenue.
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The June 2 inspection produced six high-severity violations and three intermediate ones, nine total. The illness-reporting failure was not alone. Inspectors also cited employees for inadequate handwashing and for using improper hand and arm washing technique, two separate violations covering both the frequency and the execution of the most basic food safety practice.
Three of the remaining high-severity violations clustered around seafood. Inspectors found inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning shellfish on the premises could not be traced to a certified source. They also cited a failure to follow parasite destruction procedures for fish, and the absence of a consumer advisory notifying customers that raw or undercooked items were being served.
On the intermediate level, inspectors found multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, single-use items being reused, and wiping cloths used improperly. All three violations were cited on the same day.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting failure is the violation epidemiologists most consistently link to large-scale outbreaks. When a sick food worker continues to handle food without reporting symptoms, norovirus and other pathogens transfer directly to every item they touch. A single infected employee working a full shift can expose dozens of customers before anyone knows anything went wrong.
The two handwashing violations compound that risk. Inadequate handwashing means employees are not washing their hands when they should. Improper technique means that even when they do wash, the process is leaving pathogens behind. Together, those two violations describe a kitchen where contaminated hands are in contact with food repeatedly throughout the day.
The shellfish and parasite violations represent a different category of danger. Shellfish without proper traceability records cannot be linked back to their harvest location if customers become sick, which means an outbreak investigation hits a wall before it starts. The parasite destruction failure means fish served at NY NY Pizza may not have been frozen to the temperatures and durations required to kill Anisakis and other parasites that survive light cooking.
The absence of a consumer advisory means customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and anyone with a compromised immune system, had no way of knowing raw or undercooked items were on the menu.
The Longer Record
The June 2 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show NY NY Pizza has been inspected 38 times, accumulating 422 total violations across that history.
The most recent seven inspections before June 2 tell a consistent story. In December 2023, inspectors cited nine high-severity and five intermediate violations in a single visit. That was followed by five high-severity violations in April 2024, four high-severity violations in December 2024, and three more in May 2025. The restaurant logged a clean inspection in May 2025, then returned to three high-severity violations one week later.
The facility was emergency-closed once before, in April 2018, after inspectors found rodent activity. It reopened the following day. That closure is the only time in 38 inspections that regulators determined the conditions required shutting the doors.
The handwashing and illness-reporting violations documented June 2 are not new categories for this restaurant. High-severity violations have appeared in six of the last eight inspections on record. The June 3 follow-up inspection, conducted one day after the June 2 visit, found one remaining high-severity violation, down from six, but not zero.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. On June 2, 2026, with six high-severity violations documented at NY NY Pizza, including employees not reporting illness symptoms and parasite destruction procedures not followed, they did not exercise that authority.
The restaurant served customers that day, and the day after, and the follow-up inspection still found a high-severity violation on the books.