HIALEAH, FL. A food employee at Reys Pizza #10 on East 8th Avenue was not reporting symptoms of illness to management on August 7, according to state inspection records. That violation, which federal health data links to the single largest category of multi-victim foodborne outbreaks, was one of six high-severity citations issued that day. The restaurant was not closed.
The August 7 inspection produced a combined ten violations: six high-severity and four intermediate. State inspectors documented that no person in charge was present or actively performing supervisory duties at the time of the visit.
What Inspectors Found
Inspectors cited employees for inadequate handwashing, a violation state records categorize as the single most significant factor in spreading foodborne illness. Food contact surfaces, meaning the counters, boards, and equipment that touch the food customers eat, were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Inspectors also found that the facility was not maintaining adequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish like oysters and clams are high-risk foods often eaten raw, and without proper sourcing tags there is no way to trace them if someone falls ill.
The sixth high-severity violation involved improper use of time as a public health control. When a kitchen uses time rather than temperature to manage food safety, it must track precisely how long food sits in the danger zone. Records show that system was not being followed properly.
On the intermediate side, multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, ventilation and lighting were inadequate, toilet facilities were not properly maintained, and equipment was found in poor repair, with cracks and corroded areas that cannot be effectively sanitized.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting failure is the most direct threat to anyone who ate at Reys Pizza #10 on or around August 7. When a food worker with norovirus, salmonella, or hepatitis A continues handling food without disclosing symptoms, every dish that leaves the kitchen is a potential transmission event. This is not a theoretical risk: the CDC identifies ill food workers as the leading cause of restaurant-linked multi-victim outbreaks.
The handwashing violation compounds that risk immediately. Hands carry pathogens from surfaces, from raw food, and from the employee's own body directly onto food. At Reys Pizza #10, inspectors found that employees were not washing their hands adequately, meaning any pathogen present had a clear route to the customer's plate.
The absent manager matters because supervisory presence is what keeps these other violations in check. CDC data shows establishments without active managerial control have three times more critical violations than those with someone actively overseeing food safety practices. On August 7, no one in that role was doing that job.
The shell stock record violation adds a separate layer of risk. If a customer became ill after eating shellfish from this location, investigators would have no way to trace the product back to its source, identify a contaminated harvest, or warn others.
The Longer Record
Reys Pizza #10: Recent Inspection Pattern
August 7 was not an aberration. State records show Reys Pizza #10 has accumulated 322 violations across 38 inspections. In February of this year, a single inspection turned up ten high-severity violations and four intermediate ones. March brought another five high-severity citations.
The pattern holds going back further. Inspectors documented eight high-severity violations in July 2025 and seven more in January 2025. The facility was emergency-closed in September 2021 after a sewage backup, and allowed to reopen two days later.
The follow-up inspection on August 8, the day after the visit at the center of this story, still found three high-severity violations. A second follow-up on August 17 found one more.
Open for Business
State law gives inspectors authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. On August 7, with six high-severity violations documented at Reys Pizza #10, including an employee not reporting illness and inadequate handwashing, that threshold was not met.
The restaurant served customers that day.
