, FL. Beef in sauce made at 10 a.m. was sitting in a hot-holding unit at 110 degrees Fahrenheit when a state inspector checked it one hour later at Presidente Supermarket No. 66 Inc., according to records from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Safe hot-holding requires food to stay at 135 degrees or above. The beef had dropped 25 degrees below that threshold in a single hour.
The September 11 inspection turned up 14 total violations, including one priority violation and six priority-foundation violations. None were marked as repeat violations, and the supermarket was recorded as having met sanitation inspection requirements by the end of the visit.
What Inspectors Found
The priority violation involved cross-contamination in the walk-in cooler. Inspector records show chicken necks were stored directly over pork ribs, a storage configuration that puts raw poultry, which carries the highest contamination risk among common meats, above a product that would absorb any drip. The chicken necks were moved to a proper location during the inspection.
In the deli section, frozen beef was observed thawing in standing water inside a three-compartment sink. State rules require thawing under refrigeration or under running cold water, not in a static pool where bacterial growth accelerates. Inspectors directed staff to place the beef under running cold water to continue the process.
The seafood display case had fish still sealed inside reduced oxygen packaging while it was thawing on ice. Reduced oxygen packaging creates conditions where certain dangerous bacteria can multiply without the usual warning signs of spoilage, which is why the packaging must be opened before thawing begins. Inspectors noted all ROP fish was opened during the visit.
On the retail floor, juice packaged on site was being sold without a warning label. Juice packaged at a retail location and not treated under a HACCP plan to achieve a 5-log pathogen reduction is required to carry a specific consumer advisory. The juice was pulled from retail sale during the inspection. Mixed fruit packaged on site was also found without ingredient labeling and was removed from the self-service case.
The produce area had a handwashing station blocked by boxes, rendering it inaccessible. The boxes were removed during the inspection, but the blockage meant employees working in that area had no accessible place to wash their hands at the time of the inspector's arrival.
Multiple flies were observed throughout the produce processing area. The inspector also noted an accumulation of dust on a fan inside the walk-in cooler in the deli section.
The Person in Charge
Three of the six priority-foundation violations centered on the person in charge and employee health protocols. The inspector found that the person in charge could not correctly answer questions related to preventing the spread of foodborne illness through sick employees. That person also could not demonstrate that food employees had been informed, in a verifiable manner, to report illness or symptoms linked to diseases transmissible through food.
The establishment also had no written procedures for employees to follow in the event of a vomit or diarrheal incident inside the store.
An employee health guide and guidance documents were provided to the establishment during the inspection. These violations were not marked as corrected on site.
What These Violations Mean
The hot-holding failure at the deli counter is the violation with the most direct risk to anyone who bought prepared food that morning. Beef held at 110 degrees Fahrenheit for at least an hour has spent that time in a temperature range where bacteria multiply rapidly. A customer who purchased that beef before the inspector intervened had no way of knowing it had not been maintained at a safe temperature.
The employee health violations carry a different but serious risk. When a person in charge cannot demonstrate that employees know to report illness, there is no reliable barrier between a sick food handler and the food they are preparing or packaging. At a supermarket with a deli counter, a seafood case, and packaged produce, that gap touches a wide range of products.
The juice labeling violation matters because the warning label exists to tell customers that the product has not been treated to eliminate pathogens. Without it, a customer, particularly one who is pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised, has no information to make an informed choice about a product that carries a documented risk.
The ROP fish violation is not a paperwork issue. Fish thawing inside sealed reduced oxygen packaging can develop dangerous anaerobic bacteria, including certain strains of Clostridium botulinum, without any visible sign that something is wrong.
The Longer Record
Presidente Supermarket No. 66 has one prior FDACS inspection on record at this location. That inspection, conducted May 7, 2026, was a preoperational inspection that resulted in zero violations. The September visit was the first routine sanitation inspection at this address.
A single prior inspection with no violations provides no meaningful baseline for evaluating whether these findings represent a pattern. The September inspection is, effectively, the first data point on how this location operates under normal retail conditions.
What the September record does establish is that on the first routine inspection of this location, inspectors found a person in charge who could not demonstrate basic employee health knowledge, a deli unit failing to hold hot food at safe temperatures, and a produce area where the handwashing sink was blocked. None of the employee health policy violations were marked as corrected on site.
