JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL. State inspectors walked into Renna's Pizza on Marsh Landing Parkway on July 8 and found food from an unapproved or unknown source being used in the kitchen, a violation that means there is no way to trace where that food came from if a customer gets sick.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation was not the only finding that raised immediate public health concerns. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for employees not reporting symptoms of illness, a violation that sits at the front of nearly every foodborne illness outbreak investigation.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and tools that touch every ingredient before it reaches a plate, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The inspector also found that time was not being used correctly as a public health control. When a restaurant opts to track time rather than temperature to keep food safe, the rules are strict: food must be tracked, labeled, and discarded on schedule. Those rules were not being followed.
No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items. And no person in charge was present or actively performing supervisory duties during the inspection.
Three intermediate violations rounded out the report: improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The food from unapproved source violation is one of the most serious a restaurant can receive, not because of what inspectors can see, but because of what they cannot. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection channels carries no paper trail. If a customer develops Listeria or Salmonella poisoning after eating at Renna's, investigators would have no way to trace that ingredient back to its origin.
The employee illness reporting violation compounds that risk directly. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of restaurant-linked outbreaks, spreads through a single infected food handler touching surfaces or food that dozens of customers then consume. The violation at Renna's means the system designed to catch that before it happens was not working.
Improperly stored or labeled toxic chemicals near food is a different category of danger entirely. Mislabeled chemical containers have caused acute poisoning incidents when staff mistake a cleaning agent for a food-safe product. The risk is not theoretical.
The sewage and wastewater disposal violation adds a layer that is harder to ignore. Improper sewage handling inside a food preparation environment creates a direct pathway for fecal contamination to reach food, surfaces, and hands. Combined with inadequate toilet facilities, which reduce the likelihood that employees use restrooms and wash hands properly, the conditions documented on July 8 were not isolated problems. They were interconnected failures.
The Longer Record
The July 8 inspection was not an anomaly. It was the worst single inspection in a pattern that stretches back years.
State records show Renna's Pizza has been inspected 30 times and has accumulated 188 total violations across that history. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The most recent inspections before July tell the story clearly. In January 2026, inspectors found 2 high-severity and 2 intermediate violations. In August 2025, it was 3 high and 3 intermediate. In February 2025, 1 high and 3 intermediate. In September 2024, 2 high and 1 intermediate. In May 2024, 3 high and 1 intermediate.
The only clean inspection in the recent record was December 20, 2023, when inspectors found zero violations. The very next visit, on December 19, found 1 high violation. Three days before that, on December 15, inspectors had documented 5 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation.
Seven high-severity violations in a single visit is the worst documented result in the facility's recent history. The restaurant served customers that day, and continued to do so after the inspection closed.
The Pattern
What the record shows is a facility that has cycled through high-severity violations across multiple inspection cycles without ever reaching the threshold that triggers an emergency closure. The violations have shifted in category from visit to visit, touching food sourcing, employee health, sanitation, and management oversight.
The July 8 inspection found all of those failure points present at the same time.
Renna's Pizza on Marsh Landing Parkway remained open after the inspection.
