SOUTHWEST RANCHES, FL. State inspectors walked into Rio Grande Churrascaria Southwest Ranches LLC on Dykes Road on July 29 and found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers being served to customers, meat not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and a staff with no written health policy and no system for reporting illness symptoms. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection produced seven high-severity violations and two intermediate violations. It is among the most serious inspection records the Broward County churrascaria has accumulated in its documented history.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is the one that anchors everything else. When a restaurant obtains food outside the USDA and FDA-regulated supply chain, there is no traceability. If a customer becomes sick, investigators have no paper trail to follow.
Inspectors also cited the kitchen for failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures. At a churrascaria, a Brazilian-style steakhouse where meat is the central product, that citation carries direct weight.
Two separate handwashing violations were documented on the same visit: employees not washing adequately, and employees using improper technique even when they did wash. Both were flagged as high severity. The person in charge was either absent or not actively managing the operation.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and no system for reporting illness symptoms is how outbreaks start. Without a written policy, a worker with Norovirus has no formal instruction to stay home or report symptoms. Norovirus accounts for roughly 20 million infections in the United States each year, and food workers are among its most efficient transmission routes.
The handwashing violations compound that risk directly. Two separate citations, one for inadequate washing and one for improper technique, mean that even when employees approached a sink, the attempt was not sufficient to remove pathogens. Improper technique leaves bacteria on hands even after a washing attempt is made.
The food sourcing violation is a category that regulators treat with particular seriousness. Food from unapproved or unknown sources bypasses inspection checkpoints designed to catch Listeria, Salmonella, and other pathogens before they reach a kitchen. At a restaurant where meat is served continuously off rotating skewers, the volume of food moving through that supply gap matters.
Undercooking is the final link in that chain. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the source of the meat is unknown and the cooking temperature is not verified, there is no safety net between the animal and the customer's plate.
The Longer Record
Rio Grande Churrascaria: Recent Inspection History
The July 29 inspection is not an isolated incident. State records show 32 inspections on file for this location and 288 total violations accumulated over that history. The restaurant has been emergency-closed once before, in April 2021, when inspectors ordered it shut for fly activity. It reopened the next day.
The pattern of serious inspections followed by clean ones is documented in the records. On February 8, 2024, inspectors cited the restaurant for seven high-severity violations and five intermediate violations. Two follow-up inspections came within eleven days. By April 2025, the location was again cited for five high-severity violations. The March 2026 visit produced three more high-severity violations, followed one day later by a clean re-inspection.
That cycle is now repeating. The April 2025 inspection and the July 2026 inspection both reached the same count of high-severity violations that triggered the 2024 follow-up sequence. The difference is that in 2024, inspectors returned quickly. The July 29 visit produced seven high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source and undercooked meat.
The restaurant on Dykes Road was still open for business.
