TAMPA, FL. Back in March 2026, a state inspector walking the retail floor of Pump & Eat LLC found kratom products on the shelf that carried no label disclosing the concentration of 7-hydroxymitragynine, the compound at the center of Florida's kratom emergency rule, and no indication of how potent those products actually were.
The inspector documented that the kratom items "lack labeling disclosing concentration of 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) in parts per million (PPM) on a dry weight basis." The person in charge voluntarily discarded the products on the spot, and the state issued three separate stop sale orders and releases tied to misbranding violations under Florida Statute 500.04 and 500.11.
That was not the only problem inspectors found at the Hillsborough County store on March 30.
What Inspectors Found
An oven roasted white turkey sandwich in the open-air grab-and-go cooler measured 44 degrees Fahrenheit. State rules require cold held, time-temperature control for safety foods to stay at 41 degrees or below. All sandwiches were quick-chilled in a freezer and foods in the cooler were repositioned to allow 38-degree air flow before being returned to refrigeration.
Motor oil was stored directly above single-use utensils and cups in the retail area. The inspector noted the corrected-on-site fix: the single-use articles were moved to proper storage. Still, the placement raises a straightforward question about how the store organizes its shelves.
Unlabeled cookies intended for bulk sale, not individual retail, were also found offered for retail sale without any required labeling. They were removed from the floor and held behind the transaction counter.
The Knowledge Gap at the Counter
Two findings from the March inspection go beyond physical conditions and point to something harder to fix quickly: the person running the store did not demonstrate basic knowledge of foodborne illness prevention.
The inspector documented that the person in charge "does not correctly respond to questions relating to foodborne illness." An employee health guide was reviewed with and provided to the person in charge during the visit.
Separately, no employee had signed a health reporting agreement, the written document that commits staff to tell management if they are experiencing symptoms associated with foodborne illness. The inspector provided the agreement document on site.
The store also lacked written procedures for responding to vomiting or diarrheal events, a required protocol that outlines how employees should contain and clean up such incidents to prevent the spread of contamination.
None of those three corrective actions, the foodborne illness training, the health agreements, or the written vomit and diarrhea response plan, were marked as corrected on site.
What These Violations Mean
The kratom labeling violation is not a paperwork technicality. Florida's emergency rule requiring disclosure of 7-hydroxymitragynine concentration in parts per million exists because that compound is the primary driver of kratom's pharmacological effects, and its potency varies widely between products. A shopper at Pump & Eat in March had no way to know what concentration they were buying. Three stop sale orders were issued and the products were discarded, but they had been on the shelf before the inspector arrived.
The 44-degree turkey sandwich sits three degrees above the legal threshold for cold-held food, and that gap matters. Bacterial growth in protein-rich foods accelerates above 41 degrees. An open-air grab-and-go cooler with improperly positioned food is not a sealed environment, and sandwiches in that case could have been cycling in and out of the temperature danger zone throughout the day.
Motor oil stored above single-use cups and utensils is a direct contamination risk. A leaking bottle, a knocked-over container, or even residue on the outside of a product could transfer to cups a customer picks up and puts to their mouth. The fix took seconds, but the storage arrangement existed before the inspector walked in.
The failure of the person in charge to correctly answer basic foodborne illness questions is the finding that connects everything else. Stores where management cannot identify the symptoms or transmission routes of common foodborne illnesses are stores where those illnesses are more likely to go unrecognized and unreported.
The Longer Record
The March 30 inspection produced 13 total violations, including 2 priority violations and 1 repeat violation. None of the 13 violations were corrected on site at the time of the inspection, a detail the record makes plain: the corrected-on-site count is listed as zero, even though several individual violations note in-inspection fixes. That discrepancy suggests the inspector did not certify full correction before leaving the premises.
The wet mop violation carries the most direct historical weight. Inspectors had previously cited Pump & Eat for wet mops not being hung to dry in the backroom. Finding the same mops on the floor again in March means the problem was documented, presumably corrected for the prior inspection, and then slipped back.
The store does not have a certified food protection manager, a foundational requirement for any food establishment. That gap was still unresolved as of the March 30 inspection date, and there is no indication in the record of a timeline for compliance.
The handwashing sink in the employee restroom had no hot water. The inspector gave the establishment 30 days to provide it, meaning that as of the inspection date, employees using that sink had been washing their hands in cold water only, an unresolved condition that no in-inspection fix addressed.