ORLANDO, FL. Inspectors who walked into Sazoncito Latin Food on S Semoran Boulevard on August 5 found food from unapproved or unknown sources being used in the kitchen, a violation that means there is no way to trace what customers ate back through the supply chain if someone gets sick.
That was one of eight high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious a restaurant can receive. Food that bypasses USDA and FDA inspection channels can carry Listeria, Salmonella, or other pathogens with no paper trail to follow if customers begin reporting illness.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled inside the facility. Chemicals stored near food preparation areas can contaminate food directly, or be mistaken for food-safe products by workers, causing acute poisoning.
The inspector also found no written employee health policy in place. That means there is no formal system requiring workers who are sick to stay home or report symptoms before handling food. Norovirus, which sickens roughly 20 million Americans each year, spreads efficiently through food handled by infected workers who have no policy directing them otherwise.
Food contact surfaces, including the equipment that touches food directly during preparation, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Employees were also observed using improper handwashing technique, meaning pathogens can remain on hands even when a worker attempts to wash them. Those two violations in combination create a direct route for contamination from surface to hand to food to customer.
Inspectors further found that required procedures for specialized processes were not being followed, and that no consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked menu items. The person in charge was either not present or not performing supervisory duties, which state and CDC data link to significantly higher rates of critical violations throughout a facility.
Three intermediate violations accompanied the eight high-severity findings: improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
What These Violations Mean
The food from unapproved sources violation is not a paperwork technicality. When a restaurant sources ingredients outside licensed and inspected suppliers, there is no record of where that food was grown, processed, or stored. If a customer becomes ill, investigators have nowhere to start. That traceability gap is exactly what allows foodborne illness outbreaks to spread before they are identified.
The combination of no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique at Sazoncito is particularly direct in its risk. A sick employee with no policy requiring them to report symptoms, using technique that leaves pathogens on their hands, handling food on surfaces that are not properly sanitized, represents a complete breakdown of the basic barriers between illness and the customer's plate.
Improperly stored or mislabeled toxic chemicals add a separate and acute risk. These are not violations about food quality. They are violations about whether a customer could ingest a cleaning agent or chemical compound because it was stored where food is kept or placed in an unlabeled container.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods matters most for the customers least able to absorb the risk, including elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Without that advisory, those customers have no information to make an informed decision about what they order.
The Longer Record
The August 5 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Sazoncito Latin Food has been inspected 36 times and has accumulated 478 total violations over its history on record. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The inspection history shows no sustained period of improvement. On March 19, 2026, inspectors documented 9 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. On April 28, 2025, the count was again 9 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations. On August 21, 2024, and January 16, 2024, inspectors found 8 high-severity violations each time.
The pattern across those visits is consistent. High-severity violations in the range of 4 to 9 appear in every inspection on record going back through 2024 and 2025. The categories repeat: management failures, food handling, sanitation.
Two days after the August 5 inspection that is the focus of this report, inspectors returned on August 7 and found 6 high-severity and 2 intermediate violations. The restaurant remained open after that visit as well.
Still Open
Thirty-six inspections. Four hundred seventy-eight violations. Eight high-severity citations on August 5 alone, including food from an unknown source and toxic chemicals improperly stored.
Sazoncito Latin Food on S Semoran Boulevard was not closed after any of them.
