ORMOND BEACH, FL. Back in February 2026, state inspectors visiting Publix Super Markets Inc. #1755 on a routine sanitation check found commercially processed chicken salad on the self-serve salad bar registering 43 degrees Fahrenheit, two degrees above the legal cold-holding limit, after sitting out on the sales floor since 8 a.m.
The inspector probed the chicken salad internally at 11 a.m., three hours after it had been placed on the bar. It was removed and put into a blast chiller to rapidly cool.
That was one of four violations documented during the February 2 inspection. Two of the four were repeat violations, meaning inspectors had flagged the same problems at this location before.
What Inspectors Found
In the meatroom, inspectors found grinder parts stored on a cart in the walk-in cooler that were supposed to be clean but had visible residue buildup. The parts were washed, rinsed, sanitized, and air dried before the inspector left.
In the bakery, a carton of pasteurized liquid eggs opened that same day had been labeled with a use-by date of February 10, eight days out. The correct use-by date is seven days from opening, making the label wrong by one day. The label was corrected on site. That violation was marked repeat.
Also in the bakery and produce areas, an employee working with exposed food was observed not wearing an effective beard guard. That violation was also marked repeat.
What These Violations Mean
The chicken salad finding is the most serious from a public health standpoint. Cold-held ready-to-eat foods like chicken salad must be kept at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below to slow bacterial growth. At 43 degrees, the food is in a temperature range where pathogens like Listeria and Staphylococcus aureus can multiply. Three hours at that temperature, on an open self-serve bar accessible to shoppers, is the scenario food safety rules are designed to prevent.
The mislabeled liquid eggs in the bakery carry a different but related risk. Pasteurized liquid eggs opened and held in a commercial kitchen have a seven-day use window for a reason: after that point, even refrigerated product can harbor bacterial growth. A label showing eight days instead of seven is a small numerical error, but in a bakery producing pastries and baked goods for sale, it means staff could unknowingly use product past its safe window.
Dirty grinder parts stored as clean in the meatroom walk-in represent a direct contamination route. Residue left on equipment that contacts raw meat can harbor bacteria and transfer it to the next batch of product ground through the machine. The fact that the parts were stored as ready to use, not flagged internally before the inspector's visit, is the concern.
The beard guard violation, while lower in priority, involves direct food contact. An employee working over exposed food without a hair restraint is a basic hygiene standard, and this is the second time inspectors have documented it at this location.
The Longer Record
The February 2026 inspection was the sixth FDACS inspection on record at this Publix location. The prior five inspections, going back to July 2022, produced a mixed picture.
Three of those five inspections resulted in zero violations: a focused inspection in November 2025, a full inspection in July 2024, and a full inspection in September 2022. A focused inspection in July 2022 also found nothing. The one exception was a February 2023 inspection that documented four violations, the same count as this February's visit.
The repeat designations on two of this year's violations are significant. They mean at least one prior inspection found the same problems, specifically the beard guard issue and the mislabeled use-by date on refrigerated product. The store passed its November 2025 focused inspection with zero violations, which makes the recurrence of both flagged items just three months later, in February 2026, a notable gap.
Four violations is not an unusually high count for a supermarket of this size and complexity. But two repeats out of four total violations means half the findings were problems the store had been told to fix before.
Corrected on Site, With Exceptions
Three of the four violations were addressed during the inspection visit. The chicken salad went into the blast chiller. The liquid egg label was corrected. The grinder parts were cleaned, sanitized, and air dried.
The beard guard violation, documented in both the bakery and produce areas, was not marked as corrected on site. That is the one finding from February 2 that the inspection record does not show as resolved before the inspector left the building.