CLERMONT, FL. A state inspector visiting Original Goomba's Pizzeria on S US Highway 27 in May found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, and employees failing to report illness symptoms — nine high-severity violations in a single visit. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
The inspection took place on May 19, 2026. In addition to the nine high-priority findings, inspectors documented five intermediate violations, including improper sewage or wastewater disposal and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food citation is among the most direct threats to a customer's health. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single serving of undercooked meat can put a diner in the hospital. At a pizzeria, where chicken toppings and meat-based dishes are routine, that violation is not abstract.
Toxic chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food is a separate category of danger. Cleaning agents and sanitizers near prep surfaces can contaminate food directly, and mislabeled containers create the conditions for an accidental poisoning that is difficult to trace until someone is already sick.
The shellfish traceability violation adds another layer of concern. Without proper shell stock identification tags and records, there is no way to determine where oysters, clams, or mussels came from if a customer becomes ill. That paper trail is the only mechanism that allows a public health investigation to identify a contaminated harvest lot before more people are exposed.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is particularly dangerous in a food service environment. Norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants, spreads through infected workers who prepare food while symptomatic. A written health policy is the baseline mechanism that tells employees when to stay home. Without one at Original Goomba's, inspectors found both the policy gap and the behavior it was meant to prevent.
Improper handwashing technique compounds that risk. An employee who attempts to wash their hands but uses incorrect technique, skipping steps or cutting short the scrubbing time, can transfer pathogens to food surfaces as efficiently as no handwashing at all. When that failure occurs alongside uncleaned food contact surfaces and improperly cleaned multi-use utensils, the contamination pathways multiply.
The sewage and wastewater disposal violation sits in a different category but carries acute consequences. Improper disposal creates the possibility of fecal contamination spreading through a facility, reaching prep surfaces, food, and the hands of employees who may not realize the exposure has occurred.
No consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods means that customers who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or otherwise at elevated risk had no warning that certain menu items carried additional danger. That advisory is not a formality. It is the only information a vulnerable customer has to make an informed choice about what to order.
The Longer Record
The May 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Original Goomba's Pizzeria has been inspected 30 times, accumulating 342 total violations across that history, with zero emergency closures.
The pattern in recent years is consistent. On March 26, 2024, inspectors cited nine high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. On March 18, 2025, eight high-severity violations and four intermediate ones. On September 29, 2025, nine high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. The May 2026 inspection matches that September count exactly: nine high, five intermediate.
Three separate inspections in roughly 14 months have each produced nine high-severity citations. The violation categories overlap across visits. Employee illness reporting, food contact surface sanitation, and food handling procedures appear in multiple inspection cycles, suggesting these are not one-time oversights corrected and then re-emerging, but persistent conditions.
The facility has never been emergency-closed despite this record. Inspectors have returned repeatedly, documented the same categories of violations at high severity, and the restaurant has remained in operation each time.
Open for Business
After the May 19 inspection, with nine high-severity violations on the books including undercooking, toxic chemical storage near food, sick employees not reporting symptoms, and no functioning employee health policy, Original Goomba's Pizzeria on S US Highway 27 remained open to the public.
That is where the record stands.