DEBARY, FL. An employee at a DeBary pizza restaurant was not reporting symptoms of illness to management, state inspectors found on July 9, a violation that puts every customer who walked through the door at direct risk of a foodborne outbreak.
That finding was one of six high-severity violations documented at Original Anthony's Pizza and Italian Restaurant at 155 S US 17-92 during the July inspection. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The illness-reporting failure is the most acute danger in the list. When a food worker is symptomatic and continues handling food without management knowledge, there is no opportunity to remove that person from the line before they contaminate surfaces, utensils, and finished dishes.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized, a direct pathway for bacteria to move from one food item to the next. Cutting boards, prep tables, and similar surfaces are the most common vehicles for cross-contamination in a kitchen where cleaning protocols have broken down.
The time-as-public-health-control violation adds another layer of concern. Some restaurants are permitted to hold certain foods in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, for a limited window rather than keeping them refrigerated. When that time tracking is not properly maintained, there is no way to know how long food has been sitting at a temperature where bacteria multiply rapidly.
Two violations addressed customers directly. The restaurant had no consumer advisory on its menu for raw or undercooked foods, meaning diners who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or managing food allergies had no information to make an informed choice. The separate allergen awareness violation indicates staff could not demonstrate basic knowledge of food allergens, a gap that has sent people to emergency rooms.
Toxic chemicals were also found improperly stored or labeled. Cleaning products and other chemicals stored near food preparation areas, or without clear labeling, can contaminate food directly or be mistaken for food-safe products.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting failure at Original Anthony's is not a paperwork problem. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks, spreads efficiently when a symptomatic food handler continues working. A single infected employee can contaminate dozens of meals before anyone realizes there is a problem. The violation means the restaurant had no functioning system to catch that scenario before it reached customers.
The allergen awareness failure compounds the risk for a specific group of diners. Food allergies affect roughly 32 million Americans, and allergic reactions send 30,000 people to emergency rooms each year. A staff that cannot demonstrate allergen awareness is a staff that cannot reliably field a customer's question about whether a dish contains peanuts, shellfish, or dairy.
The combination of unsanitized food contact surfaces and improperly tracked time controls is particularly significant at a pizza and Italian restaurant, where dough, cheese, and meat toppings move through multiple prep stages. Each handoff between surfaces is an opportunity for bacterial transfer if sanitization has lapsed.
The chemical storage violation is the outlier in the list, but not a minor one. Mislabeled or improperly stored chemicals near food preparation areas have caused acute poisoning incidents. The risk is direct and immediate, not theoretical.
The Longer Record
The July 9 inspection did not represent a sudden decline. State records show Original Anthony's has accumulated 200 total violations across 22 inspections on record, a pace that works out to roughly nine violations per visit on average.
The pattern of high-severity findings is consistent going back years. In January 2023, inspectors documented 10 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate violations in a single visit. The following July, the same location drew 5 high-severity violations. The inspections from January 2024, August 2024, and January 2025 each produced 4 high-severity violations. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
This July's 6 high-severity violations are not the worst single inspection in the restaurant's recent history, but they extend a streak. Every inspection on record for the past three and a half years has produced at least 2 high-severity violations. The categories shift slightly from visit to visit, but the severity level does not.
No prior emergency closure appears in the facility's inspection record across all 22 inspections on file.
The Facility Remained Open
State inspectors documented six high-severity violations at Original Anthony's Pizza on July 9, 2026. The restaurant was not ordered to close.
Under Florida's inspection system, emergency closure is triggered when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health, such as sewage backup, loss of running water, or evidence of active pest infestation. Six high-severity violations, including an employee illness-reporting failure and toxic chemical storage problems, did not meet that threshold on this visit.
Original Anthony's Pizza at 155 S US 17-92 in DeBary was open for business when inspectors left.
