CORAL SPRINGS, FL. Back in June 2025, the person running the soda counter at Pop And Fizz Refreshing Sodas, a kiosk inside a Coral Springs shopping center, could not correctly answer an inspector's questions about foodborne diseases and their symptoms.
That finding, recorded by a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspector on June 4, 2025, was one of four violations documented during a routine sanitation inspection of the refreshment kiosk. The facility met inspection requirements overall, but the citations it collected point to foundational gaps in how the operation was being managed that day.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector noted that the person in charge "did not respond correctly to questions about foodborne diseases and their symptoms." That is a Priority Foundation violation, meaning it reflects a gap in the baseline knowledge regulators expect the person running a food establishment to carry at all times.
The second Priority Foundation violation was the absence of any written procedures for handling a vomiting or diarrheal event on the premises. The inspector's notes read: "Food establishment does not have written procedures for employees to follow when responding to an event involving the discharge of vomitus/diarrhea events." The inspector provided guidance on Norovirus cleanup and disinfection during the visit, but no written plan was in place beforehand.
Neither of those two violations was corrected on site.
The kiosk also had no certified food protection manager with a passing certification on record, which is a separate intermediate-level citation. That credential is the mechanism by which regulators verify that at least one person in an operation has completed formal food safety training.
The one violation that was fixed during the inspection was simpler: missing handwash signage. The inspector noted it was absent, and the owner provided a sign before the visit concluded.
What These Violations Mean
The two Priority Foundation violations at Pop And Fizz are not about a dirty counter or a warm beverage. They are about whether the people operating the kiosk understood how foodborne illness spreads and what to do if something went wrong inside the facility.
When a person in charge cannot correctly answer questions about foodborne diseases and their symptoms, it means the first line of defense against a sick employee continuing to handle food, or a contamination event going unrecognized, is missing. Regulators ask these questions precisely because the person in charge is supposed to be the one making real-time decisions about food safety when an inspector is not present.
The absence of written vomit and diarrhea cleanup procedures matters because Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads efficiently through contaminated surfaces and aerosolized particles from such events. A kiosk without a written cleanup protocol has no documented standard for containing that kind of exposure, and no reference document for an employee who may be encountering the situation for the first time.
The lack of a certified food protection manager compounds both of those concerns. Certification does not guarantee a safe operation, but it does establish that someone in the establishment has been formally trained in the principles behind the questions the inspector was asking.
The Longer Record
The June 2025 inspection was the tenth on record at this location, and it brought the facility's cumulative violation total to 16 across all inspections. No emergency closures appear in the history.
The most recent prior inspection on record, dated February 25, 2026, resulted in a single violation for operating without a valid food permit, which was marked as a repeat. That citation tells a different story from the knowledge and training gaps documented in June 2025, but it suggests the kiosk has continued to attract regulatory attention after that inspection.
Before June 2025, the kiosk's most violation-heavy inspection was in May 2023, when five violations were recorded. The October 2022 inspection found none. That pattern, a clean record in late 2022 followed by a jump to five violations in 2023 and then four more in June 2025, does not describe a facility in steady decline, but it does show that compliance has not been consistent.
The more notable pattern in the June 2025 findings is what was not corrected. Of the four violations cited that day, three remained unresolved when the inspector left, including both Priority Foundation citations. The handwash sign was easy to fix on the spot. The gaps in food safety knowledge and written emergency procedures were not.
As of the June 4, 2025 inspection, Pop And Fizz Refreshing Sodas met the overall threshold for sanitation requirements. But the person in charge of the kiosk still could not correctly answer an inspector's questions about how foodborne illness spreads.
