ORLANDO, FL. A state inspector walked into Run & Run Chinese Food on Palm Parkway on May 18 and found food not cooked to the minimum required temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored near food prep areas, and no policy to keep sick employees out of the kitchen. The restaurant was not closed.
Seven of the eight violations documented that day were classified as high-severity. The facility remained open and serving customers.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate at the restaurant that day. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer who ate insufficiently cooked chicken would have no way of knowing it.
The chemical violations compound that risk in a different direction. Two separate high-severity citations covered toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Both involve the same core danger: chemicals near food that can contaminate a meal without any visible sign.
The food contact surface violation means cutting boards, prep counters, or other surfaces that touch food directly were not being properly cleaned or sanitized between uses. Cross-contamination from those surfaces can transfer bacteria from raw proteins to ready-to-eat food without any additional cooking step to kill it.
The employee illness violations stand apart from the others. The restaurant had no written health policy requiring sick workers to stay home, and at least one employee was not reporting illness symptoms as required. Those two citations together describe a kitchen where a worker with Norovirus could prepare food for customers with no formal barrier in place.
What These Violations Mean
Undercooking is not a paperwork problem. It is the mechanism by which Salmonella, Campylobacter, and other pathogens survive inside food and reach a customer's stomach. Florida's minimum cooking temperature requirements exist specifically because heat is the last reliable kill step before a meal is served. When that step is skipped or incomplete, the risk is transferred directly to the person eating.
The chemical storage violations at Run & Run are distinct from the biological risks but no less immediate. Improperly labeled or stored chemicals near food preparation areas create the conditions for accidental contamination that can cause acute poisoning. A customer would not taste the difference.
Employee illness reporting is the foundational layer of outbreak prevention. When a food worker with Norovirus handles food without restriction, every customer served during that shift is a potential victim. The absence of a written health policy means there is no documented standard to enforce, and no record of whether workers were ever trained on when to stay home.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning and can transfer bacteria to food even when a utensil appears visually clean.
The Longer Record
The May 18 inspection is not an anomaly. Run & Run Chinese Food has 30 inspections on record and 254 total violations documented across that history.
The pattern of high-severity violations at this location is consistent and recent. On November 12, 2025, inspectors cited 8 high-severity violations. On December 17, 2024, the count was 7 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate. On April 4, 2024, inspectors found 9 high-severity violations and 4 intermediate citations, a combination serious enough that the state ordered an emergency closure that day for roach and fly activity.
That closure is part of the record. The restaurant was shut down in April 2024 because of pest activity. Less than three months later, on June 11, 2024, inspectors returned and found 5 more high-severity violations. The following inspection on June 12, 2024 showed 0 high-severity violations, a result that did not hold.
By April 2025, the high-severity count was back at 4. By November 2025, it was 8. The March 2026 inspection showed 0 high-severity violations. Two months later, the May 18 inspection produced 7.
That oscillating pattern, clean inspection followed by a return to high violation counts, repeats across multiple years of the facility's record. The May 2026 inspection is the fifth time in roughly 25 months that inspectors documented 4 or more high-severity violations at this location in a single visit.
Still Open
State inspectors documented seven high-severity violations at Run & Run Chinese Food on May 18, 2026, including food not cooked to required temperatures, toxic chemicals stored improperly, and no system to keep sick workers out of food preparation.
The restaurant was not emergency-closed. It remained open to serve customers.