OVIEDO, FL. Inspectors visiting Peruvian Chicken at 5420 Deep Lake Road on May 5, 2026 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, a violation that means the chicken, fish, or other ingredients on customers' plates may never have passed a federal safety inspection.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source citation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. When food bypasses USDA or FDA inspection, there is no chain of custody, no verified processing standards, and no way to trace an outbreak back to its origin if a customer gets sick.
Alongside that citation, inspectors documented that parasite destruction procedures were not being followed. At a restaurant that serves fish or pork, that means Anisakis worms, tapeworm, or Trichinella could survive to the plate if the food was not properly frozen or cooked to kill them.
Food was also found not cooked to the required minimum internal temperature. At a restaurant named for its chicken, that finding is direct: Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Undercooking is among the most documented causes of foodborne illness in the United States.
The restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items, meaning customers who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised had no way of knowing they were eating food that carried an elevated risk.
Inspectors also cited employees for improper handwashing technique and found no written employee health policy on the premises. Both violations leave the door open for a sick worker to transmit Norovirus or other pathogens directly to food without any procedural barrier in place.
A single intermediate violation, for improper use of wiping cloths, rounded out the inspection report.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is not a paperwork technicality. Suppliers who operate outside the USDA and FDA inspection system are not subject to routine pathogen testing, temperature monitoring, or contamination controls. If a customer at Peruvian Chicken became ill after eating there on May 5, investigators would have no verified supply chain to trace.
The parasite destruction failure compounds that risk specifically for fish dishes. Anisakis larvae, which can cause severe abdominal pain and require surgical removal in serious cases, are killed by freezing fish to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit for seven days or by cooking to 145 degrees. Without documented procedures, neither guarantee exists.
The combination of undercooked food and no consumer advisory is particularly dangerous for vulnerable diners. A customer with a compromised immune system who ordered chicken and saw no advisory on the menu had no information to make an informed choice. The missing employee health policy means a worker showing symptoms of Norovirus or Salmonella infection had no written protocol requiring them to report their illness or stay off food preparation.
Wiping cloths, when reused across surfaces without proper sanitizing, transfer bacteria from raw protein surfaces to ready-to-eat food contact areas. It is a low-cost fix that shows up repeatedly in this facility's record.
The Longer Record
The May 2026 inspection was the 24th on record at this address, and the violations it documented are not new territory for this restaurant. Over 24 inspections, state records show 136 total violations accumulated, and the facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of serious violations appearing, then disappearing, then reappearing is consistent across multiple years. In September 2025, inspectors cited eight high-severity and two intermediate violations. Two months later, in November 2025, a follow-up visit found zero high or intermediate violations. In December 2024, seven high-severity violations were documented. In February 2024, four high-severity violations. In September 2023, three high-severity violations.
Peruvian Chicken: High-Severity Violations by Inspection
The oscillating pattern suggests the restaurant corrects violations when inspectors return to verify, then reverts. Of the eight most recent inspections with available violation data, five produced high-severity citations. None produced an emergency closure order.
The violations documented on May 5 include categories that appeared in prior inspections as well. The food sourcing and cooking temperature violations in particular are not anomalies in this restaurant's record; they are part of a recurring cycle that state inspectors have documented across multiple years without triggering a closure.
After six high-severity violations on May 5, 2026, Peruvian Chicken on Deep Lake Road remained open for business.