SAINT AUGUSTINE, FL. State inspectors walked into Pizza Time at 124 St. George St. on August 4, 2026, and found that the restaurant was serving food sourced from an unapproved or unknown supplier, a violation that means no government inspector had ever checked that food for Listeria, Salmonella, or any other pathogen before it landed on a customer's plate.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector also cited inadequate shell stock identification records. Pizza Time serves food that includes shellfish, a category of high-risk ingredients that must be traceable to a certified harvest site. Without those records, there is no way to identify the source if customers become ill.
Two more violations focused entirely on sick employees. Inspectors found no written employee health policy and documented that employees were not reporting illness symptoms. Both violations were cited as high-severity.
The person in charge was either absent or not performing supervisory duties during the inspection. Inspectors also found food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized.
No intermediate violations were recorded. All six violations were high-severity.
What These Violations Mean
The food sourcing violation is the one with the least margin for error. When food arrives from an unapproved supplier, it has bypassed the federal and state inspection systems designed to catch contamination before it reaches a kitchen. If a customer gets sick and investigators need to trace the source, there is no paper trail to follow.
The shellfish traceability violation compounds that problem. Oysters, clams, and mussels are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked, meaning any pathogens survive to the table. Florida requires certified shellstock tags to remain on file for 90 days precisely so health officials can identify a contaminated harvest lot if illnesses are reported. Pizza Time, according to the August 4 inspection, was not maintaining those records.
The illness-reporting violations are a different kind of risk. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States every year, spreads efficiently through food handlers who work while symptomatic. A written health policy tells employees specifically when they are required to stay home. Without one, and without a culture of reporting symptoms, a sick employee has no formal instruction to do anything other than show up for their shift.
Food contact surfaces that are not properly sanitized turn prep areas into transfer points. Cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that carry bacteria from one food to the next are one of the most documented vehicles for cross-contamination in restaurant settings. At Pizza Time, inspectors flagged this as a high-severity violation on August 4.
The Longer Record
The August 4 inspection was not the first time Pizza Time accumulated serious violations in a single visit. State records show 36 inspections on file for this location, with 158 total violations documented across that history.
The most direct comparison is February 17, 2026, when inspectors cited six high-severity violations and one intermediate violation at the same location. That inspection six months earlier produced an identical high-severity count to the August visit. The restaurant was not closed after that inspection either.
Looking back further, the pattern holds. Inspectors documented four high-severity violations in October 2023, three in December 2024, three in January 2024, and two in May 2025. There has never been an emergency closure in Pizza Time's inspection record.
The August 5, 2026 follow-up inspection, conducted the day after the six-violation visit, recorded zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. Corrections were made quickly. But the August 4 violations, including the unapproved food source and missing shellfish records, existed while the restaurant was serving customers.
Still Open
Florida's inspection system gives inspectors discretion to close a facility immediately when violations pose an imminent public health threat. Six high-severity violations at Pizza Time on August 4 did not meet that threshold, at least not in the judgment of the inspector on site.
The unapproved food source was corrected by the next morning. The shellfish records were brought into compliance. The illness-reporting gaps were addressed.
What the record cannot answer is how long those conditions existed before August 4, and how many customers ate food from an unverified supplier or were served by an employee with no formal instruction to report feeling sick.
Pizza Time remained open throughout.
