HOLLYWOOD, FL. Food from unapproved or unknown sources was among six high-severity violations documented at OSH Tea Room on Hollywood Boulevard during a September 11 inspection, yet state regulators allowed the restaurant to remain open and serving customers.
The unapproved sourcing violation sits at the center of a violation sheet that also included improperly stored toxic substances, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no employee health policy. Together, the six high-severity findings represent one of the most serious single-visit records the Hollywood Boulevard location has accumulated.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most consequential on the list. When a restaurant obtains food from suppliers outside the USDA and FDA-regulated supply chain, there is no paper trail connecting an ingredient to its origin. If a customer becomes ill, investigators cannot trace the food back to a farm, processor, or distributor.
Inspectors also cited the facility for inadequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are among the highest-risk foods served in American restaurants because they are often consumed raw or lightly cooked. State rules require that tags identifying the harvest location and date travel with every shipment and remain on file for 90 days. Without those records, a contaminated batch cannot be recalled or traced.
Toxic substances were found improperly identified, stored, or used. That violation carries an immediate risk of chemical contamination of food or food-contact surfaces, separate from and in addition to any biological hazard.
The facility also had no written employee health policy. That means no formal system existed to keep sick workers out of the kitchen. It also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, leaving customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and young children without the information they need to make an informed choice.
Time as a public health control was not properly used, meaning food held outside refrigeration without temperature monitoring was allowed to remain in a bacterial growth window without a documented plan. Two intermediate violations rounded out the inspection: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and missing shellfish traceability records creates a specific public health problem: if someone who ate at OSH Tea Room became ill from a contaminated ingredient, investigators would have no chain of custody to follow. Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens can survive in food that has not passed through regulated inspection checkpoints. The absence of documentation is not a paperwork problem. It is an investigative dead end if people get sick.
The missing employee health policy compounds that risk. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads through direct contact between an infected food handler and the food being prepared. A written policy that requires sick employees to report symptoms and stay home is the primary barrier against that transmission route. OSH Tea Room had none on record during this inspection.
The improper time-as-a-public-health-control violation adds a third layer. Restaurants that use time rather than temperature to manage food safety must document when food was removed from refrigeration and discard it within a set window. Without that documentation, there is no way to know how long food sat in the 41-to-135-degree range where bacteria like Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus multiply rapidly.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning and can transfer pathogens to every plate, cup, or surface the utensil touches afterward.
The Longer Record
The September 11 inspection is not an outlier. It is the fourth consecutive quarterly inspection in which OSH Tea Room logged four or more high-severity violations.
In January 2026, inspectors documented eight high-severity violations, the worst single visit in the facility's recorded history. In October 2025, the count was four high-severity violations. In July 2025, it was six high-severity violations with one intermediate. The pattern runs back further: four high-severity violations in May 2022, three high-severity and three intermediate violations in March 2021.
Across 17 inspections on record, the facility has accumulated 89 total violations. The only inspection that returned a clean sheet was in December 2021. Every other visit produced at least one violation, and most produced several high-severity ones.
The facility has never been emergency-closed.
Still Open
State inspectors left OSH Tea Room open on September 11 despite the six high-severity findings. The restaurant at 2051B Hollywood Boulevard continued operating that day and in the days that followed.
Customers who walked in after the inspection had no way of knowing that the food on the menu may have come from suppliers outside the regulated supply chain, that no written policy existed to keep sick employees out of the kitchen, and that the shellfish served there could not be traced to a verified harvest source. None of that information is posted on the door.
