DAVIE, FL. A state inspector walked into Palace Cuisine of India on SR 84 on August 17 and found food sourced from suppliers that have never been vetted by federal safety regulators, a kitchen with no written policy requiring sick employees to stay home, and workers using handwashing techniques that leave pathogens on their hands regardless of whether they wash at all.
The inspector cited nine high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is the one that carries the longest shadow. When food arrives from an unapproved or unknown supplier, it has bypassed the USDA and FDA inspection systems entirely. If a customer gets sick, there is no paper trail pointing back to where the food came from, no lot number to pull, no distributor to notify.
The shell stock identification violation compounds that problem specifically for shellfish. Oysters, clams, and mussels are often consumed raw or barely cooked. State rules require restaurants to keep the harvest tags attached to each bag until the last shellfish is used, then retain those tags for 90 days. Without them, an outbreak tied to a contaminated harvest has no traceable origin.
The restaurant also had no written employee health policy and, separately, at least one employee who was not reporting illness symptoms as required. Those two violations together describe a kitchen where a worker with Norovirus has no formal obligation to stay home and no documented instruction that they should.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food areas. That violation sits alongside the handwashing citation and the unsanitized food contact surfaces as evidence of basic hygiene controls that were not functioning on the day of the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
Food from unapproved sources is not a paperwork problem. It means the restaurant was serving ingredients that no federal inspector has ever evaluated for Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli contamination. If a customer became ill after eating at Palace Cuisine of India on or around August 17, investigators would have no supply chain records to follow.
The combination of no health policy and an employee not reporting symptoms is how multi-victim outbreaks start. Norovirus spreads through food handled by an infected worker and can sicken dozens of customers before a single complaint reaches a health department. A written policy requiring sick employees to report symptoms and stay home is the first line of defense. This kitchen did not have one.
Improper handwashing technique is a violation that surprises people because it involves someone who actually went to the sink. The citation means the method was wrong, likely too brief, missing key surfaces, or skipping soap entirely at some point. Studies show that incomplete handwashing leaves enough pathogens on hands to contaminate food. The attempt does not equal protection.
Improperly stored chemicals near food areas carry an acute risk that is separate from bacterial contamination entirely. Mislabeled cleaning agents or sanitizers stored adjacent to food ingredients can cause chemical poisoning that presents within minutes of consumption and is difficult to diagnose quickly.
The Longer Record
The August 17 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 27 inspections on file for this address, with 273 total violations accumulated across that history.
The most recent inspections before August 17 tell a consistent story. The March 2026 inspection produced 11 high-severity violations and one intermediate. The November 2025 inspection produced 8 high and 2 intermediate. The March 2025 inspection produced 7 high and 1 intermediate. The December 2024 inspection produced 7 high violations. In each of those visits, the severity tier was high, and the counts were substantial.
The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice. In April 2021, inspectors ordered it shut for roach and rodent activity; it reopened the following day. Two months later, in June 2021, it was closed again for rodent and fly activity; it reopened the same day. Both closures came in a single spring season five years ago.
The follow-up inspections after August 17 show some reduction. The August 18 callback found 2 high and 1 intermediate violations. The August 24 inspection found 1 high and 1 intermediate. The numbers dropped, but high-severity violations were still present a week after the nine-violation inspection.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when an inspector determines that continued operation poses an immediate threat to the public. Nine high-severity violations on a single inspection day, at a restaurant with 273 violations in its history and two prior emergency closures, did not meet that threshold on August 17.
Palace Cuisine of India served customers that evening.
