MIAMI, FL. State inspectors visiting Shorty's Bar-B-Que on South Dixie Highway on September 15 found food sourced from unapproved or unknown suppliers, meaning some of what customers ate that day had bypassed federal safety inspection entirely.
That was one of eleven high-severity violations documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation means inspectors could not confirm where some of the restaurant's food originated. If a customer got sick, there would be no supply chain record to trace.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for not cooking food to required minimum temperatures. At a barbecue restaurant, that finding is pointed: undercooking is precisely the risk that slow-smoke cooking is supposed to eliminate. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Parasite destruction procedures were not followed, a violation that applies to fish, pork, and wild game. Shorty's is a barbecue operation, and pork is central to the menu. Trichinella, the parasite associated with undercooked pork, requires specific temperature thresholds to kill.
Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled, and a separate citation covered toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. Two distinct chemical violations in one inspection means inspectors found more than one instance of hazardous materials in proximity to food or food-contact surfaces.
The remaining high-severity findings included no person in charge present or performing duties, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shellfish identification records, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked items.
Seven intermediate violations accompanied the eleven high-severity ones. Those included improper sewage or wastewater disposal, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, improper sanitizing procedures, inadequate cooling and cold-holding equipment, single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
The food-from-unapproved-sources violation is the one that makes subsequent illness hardest to investigate. When a restaurant sources food outside licensed, inspected suppliers, there is no chain of custody. If a customer develops Listeria or Salmonella symptoms days later, health officials cannot pull a lot number, contact a distributor, or warn others who bought from the same batch.
The employee illness reporting failure is a direct transmission route for norovirus, one of the most contagious pathogens in food service. A single infected employee who does not report symptoms and continues handling food can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
The two chemical violations, taken together, describe a kitchen where hazardous substances were not kept separate from food preparation areas and were not properly labeled. Chemical poisoning from mislabeled or misplaced cleaning agents does not look like food poisoning. It can look like an allergic reaction, a sudden illness, or a medical emergency with no obvious cause.
The sewage disposal violation, classified as intermediate, still carries acute risk. Improper wastewater handling introduces fecal matter into the facility environment, contaminating surfaces and, potentially, food.
The Longer Record
Shorty's Bar-B-Que: Recent Inspection Pattern
Shorty's has 38 inspections on record and 605 total violations documented across that history. That is not a facility with an isolated bad week.
The pattern in the recent record is consistent and specific. In September 2025, inspectors returned the day after a nine-high-violation inspection and still found four high-severity problems. In November 2025, a seven-high-violation inspection was followed the next day by five more high-severity findings. The September 15 inspection, the one that produced eleven high-severity violations, was followed the very next day by a return visit that found seven more.
Violations in the same categories appear across multiple inspection cycles: food safety management failures, temperature control, and sanitation. No emergency closure has ever been ordered at this location across all 38 inspections.
Still Open
After the September 15 inspection, with eleven high-severity violations on the books including unapproved food sources, undercooking, live parasite risk, and toxic chemicals near food, Shorty's Bar-B-Que on South Dixie Highway remained open for business.
The follow-up inspection the next day found seven more high-severity violations still in place.
