COOPER CITY, FL. Inspectors visiting Shahs of Kabob at 8616 Griffin Road on September 22 found food in poor condition or adulterated on the premises, one of eight high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
The inspection also turned up two separate handwashing failures: employees were not washing their hands adequately, and those who did attempt to wash were using improper technique. Both were cited as high-severity violations.
What Inspectors Found
The restaurant had no written employee health policy in place, a high-severity citation on its own. No policy means no formal mechanism for keeping a sick worker out of the kitchen, and no documented expectation that employees report illness before handling food.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for inadequate shell stock identification records, a violation that applies to shellfish such as oysters, clams, and mussels. Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, and the restaurant had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items. The person in charge was either absent or not actively performing supervisory duties.
Three intermediate violations accompanied the eight high-severity citations: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, improper sanitizing solution or procedures, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
The two handwashing violations, taken together, describe a kitchen where contamination from employees' hands was not being reliably stopped. Inadequate handwashing is the single most significant factor in spreading foodborne illness, according to state inspection records. Improper technique, even when an employee makes the attempt, leaves pathogens on hands that then transfer to food, surfaces, and utensils. At Shahs of Kabob on September 22, both failures were present at the same time.
The absence of an employee health policy compounds that risk directly. Without a written policy, a worker who is sick, including someone carrying Norovirus, which causes an estimated 20 million cases of illness in the United States annually, has no formal instruction to stay home or report symptoms. There is no documented expectation, no signed acknowledgment, and no management mechanism to intercept that person before they reach the food.
The shell stock traceability violation carries a different kind of risk. Shellfish consumed raw or lightly cooked are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen. Without proper identification tags and records, there is no way to trace the origin of a shellfish product if customers become ill. That traceability gap matters most in the hours after someone reports getting sick.
Food contact surfaces that are not properly cleaned and sanitized, combined with multi-use utensils that were also cited for improper cleaning and sanitizing solutions that were not correctly prepared or applied, describe a facility where multiple layers of the standard contamination barrier had failed on the same day.
The Longer Record
The September 22 inspection was not an outlier. State records show Shahs of Kabob has accumulated 174 violations across 33 inspections on record, a total that reflects years of recurring citations rather than a single bad day.
The inspection history shows high-severity violations in seven of the eight most recent inspections before September 22. The November 2023 visit produced six high-severity violations and three intermediate ones. The June 2023 inspection produced four high-severity violations. The September 2024 inspection produced three high-severity violations. The November 2025 inspection produced four high-severity violations.
The September 22 visit, with eight high-severity violations, was the worst single inspection in the recent record.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. The October 1 follow-up inspection, conducted nine days after the September 22 visit, showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations, a turnaround that the prior inspection history suggests has happened before. High violation counts have been followed by clean inspections, and then the violations have returned.
Still Open
State inspectors documented eight high-severity violations at Shahs of Kabob on September 22, including adulterated food, two distinct handwashing failures, no employee health policy, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
The restaurant was not closed.
Customers who ate at 8616 Griffin Road in the days surrounding that inspection had no way of knowing what the state's records showed. The violations were documented. The doors stayed open.
