ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL. Food was not cooked to the required minimum temperature at Pilin Thai Restaurant on West SR 436 when a state inspector visited on September 10, a violation that means pathogens including Salmonella in poultry can survive and reach the customer's plate.
The restaurant drew seven high-severity violations and two intermediate violations that day. It was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The cooking temperature violation sits at the top of the list because the consequences are direct and well-documented. Salmonella in undercooked poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer who eats it has no way of knowing the food was not brought to a safe temperature.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant twice for handwashing failures, once for employees not washing their hands at all and once for employees using improper technique. These are recorded as two separate high-severity violations because they represent two separate breakdowns in the same critical control.
Food contact surfaces were found not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards and prep surfaces that carry bacteria from one food item to the next are a primary vehicle for cross-contamination, and a surface that looks clean is not the same as one that has been sanitized.
The restaurant was also cited for failing to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and for no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans. Without staff training on allergens, a customer with a severe allergy to peanuts or shellfish has no reliable way to get accurate information before ordering.
Single-use items, such as gloves, cups, or foil containers, were found being reused. Those items are designed for one use because repeated use degrades their integrity and creates new contamination pathways.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooked food and failed handwashing is not routine. These two categories together represent the most direct route from kitchen to illness. Undercooking fails to kill bacteria already present in the food. Improper handwashing adds bacteria from human contact. When both occur in the same kitchen on the same inspection, the risk compounds.
The time-as-public-health-control violation adds another layer. When a kitchen uses time instead of temperature to manage food safety, the assumption is that food will be discarded after a set window in the temperature danger zone, typically between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit. If that system is not properly documented and followed, food that should have been thrown away is served.
The allergen citation is acutely serious for a Thai restaurant specifically. Thai cuisine commonly uses peanuts, shellfish, soy, and tree nuts, all among the most dangerous allergens. Thirty thousand emergency room visits each year in the United States are linked to allergic reactions to food. A staff that cannot demonstrate allergen awareness cannot reliably warn a customer with a life-threatening allergy.
No consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods means that elderly diners, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems, the populations most at risk from pathogens like Salmonella and Listeria, received no warning that any item on the menu may not have been fully cooked.
The Longer Record
The September 10 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Pilin Thai has been inspected 21 times and has accumulated 175 violations across that history.
Every single inspection on record going back to December 2022 has included high-severity violations. The March 2026 inspection, six months before this one, produced seven high-severity violations and four intermediate violations. The October 2025 inspection produced five high-severity violations. The pattern holds across years, not just recent months.
The violation categories have not changed materially. Handwashing failures and food safety process breakdowns appear across multiple inspection cycles. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed, despite the sustained volume of high-severity citations.
A facility with 21 inspections on record and high-severity violations appearing on every recent visit is not experiencing isolated lapses. The record describes a kitchen where these conditions are the baseline.
Still Open
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. That order was not issued on September 10.
Pilin Thai Restaurant on West SR 436 remained open after an inspection that documented food served without reaching safe cooking temperatures, staff who did not wash their hands correctly, food contact surfaces that were not sanitized, and no one on the floor able to answer a customer's question about allergens.
The restaurant has been inspected 21 times. It has never been closed.
