MELBOURNE, FL. A state inspector walked into Persis Indian Grill on North Wickham Road in August and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means anything served from that supply chain had bypassed federal safety inspections entirely.
That was one of eleven high-severity violations documented on August 18, 2026. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source citation is among the most serious a food establishment can receive. Without documentation tying ingredients to licensed, inspected suppliers, there is no way to trace an illness back to its origin if customers get sick.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to follow parasite destruction procedures. Fish and pork served without proper freezing or cooking can harbor Anisakis, tapeworm, and Trichinella, parasites that cause serious gastrointestinal illness and, in some cases, organ damage.
The inspector found food in poor condition, described as mislabeled or adulterated, alongside inadequate shellfish traceability records. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen, and without proper tagging records, there is no way to identify the harvest source if an illness cluster emerges.
Staff were cited for not reporting illness symptoms and for the restaurant having no written employee health policy. Those two violations appeared together, which is significant: the policy is the mechanism that requires workers to report, and without it, there is no system to catch a sick employee before they handle food.
The inspector also documented improper handwashing technique, meaning staff were making an attempt to wash hands but doing it incorrectly, leaving pathogens in place. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, creating a direct transfer route for bacteria between prep cycles.
Two additional high-severity citations covered time as a public health control, meaning food was held in the temperature danger zone without proper time documentation, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, meaning diners had no way to make an informed choice about their risk.
The allergen awareness citation was the eleventh high-severity violation. Staff demonstrated no knowledge of allergen protocols. Food allergies send roughly 30,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year, and a kitchen without allergen awareness has no reliable way to prevent cross-contact.
Three intermediate violations accompanied the high-severity findings: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sourcing and no parasite destruction procedures is particularly dangerous at a restaurant serving dishes that may include fish or pork prepared in traditional styles. Both violations remove safety checkpoints that exist specifically to prevent pathogens and parasites from reaching the plate.
The illness reporting and health policy violations compound that risk. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads almost entirely through infected food workers who either do not know they should stay home or work in environments where no one enforces that expectation. At Persis Indian Grill, the inspector found both the policy and the reporting requirement were absent.
Improperly cleaned food contact surfaces and multi-use utensils together create a continuous contamination loop across service periods. Bacterial biofilms can establish on unclean surfaces within 24 hours, protecting bacteria from standard cleaning agents and making them harder to eliminate with each passing day.
The allergen violation is not a paperwork issue. It means that a customer with a peanut, tree nut, or shellfish allergy who asked a staff member about ingredients could have received an answer that put them in danger.
The Longer Record
Persis Indian Grill: Inspection Pattern, 2022-2026
Persis Indian Grill has 29 inspections on record and 158 total violations across its history. The August 2026 inspection, with 11 high-severity citations, is the worst single inspection in the data by a significant margin.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, on July 5, 2023, after inspectors found roach activity. It reopened the following day. That closure came at the end of a stretch that included five high-severity violations in May 2023 and four more on the day of the closure itself.
The August 2025 inspection showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations, a clean record that makes the August 2026 findings harder to explain as a gradual drift. In the span of twelve months, the restaurant went from a passing inspection to its worst documented performance.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented eleven high-severity violations at Persis Indian Grill on August 18, 2026, including food from sources that had bypassed federal safety inspections, no procedures to destroy parasites in fish and pork, and no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff.
The restaurant has 158 violations across 29 inspections and one prior emergency closure for roaches.
It remained open after the August inspection.
