PALM BAY, FL. A state inspector walked into Siggy's An American Bar on Malabar Road on July 20 and documented that the kitchen was not following parasite destruction procedures, that food contact surfaces were not being properly cleaned or sanitized, and that no written employee health policy existed to keep sick workers away from food. Seven of the eight violations cited that day were high-severity. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation is among the most specific food safety failures a kitchen can accumulate. When fish, pork, or wild game is served raw or undercooked, state rules require precise freezing or cooking protocols to kill parasites including Anisakis, tapeworm, and Trichinella. At Siggy's, those protocols were not being followed.
The bar also had no consumer advisory posted to warn customers that raw or undercooked items were on the menu. That advisory exists specifically to allow elderly diners, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems to make an informed choice before ordering. Without it, those customers had no notice of the risk.
Food contact surfaces, the cutting boards, prep tables, and utensils that directly touch what customers eat, were cited as not properly cleaned or sanitized. That category of violation is a primary vehicle for bacterial transfer between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
Two separate handwashing violations were cited on the same visit: inadequate handwashing facilities and improper handwashing technique. The first means the infrastructure to wash hands properly was not in place. The second means that even when employees attempted to wash their hands, the technique was insufficient to remove pathogens. Both violations on the same day compound each other.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure and the missing consumer advisory are connected risks. A customer who orders a fish dish or any menu item served undercooked at Siggy's had no written warning that the kitchen was not following the freezing and cooking protocols designed to make those items safe. Parasites including Anisakis can cause severe abdominal pain and require surgical removal in serious cases. Trichinella, associated with undercooked pork and wild game, can cause muscle inflammation and, in severe cases, cardiac and neurological complications.
The absence of an employee health policy is a structural failure, not a one-day lapse. Without a written policy requiring sick workers to stay home or be reassigned away from food handling, there is no mechanism to prevent a worker with Norovirus, Salmonella, or Hepatitis A from preparing food. Norovirus alone accounts for roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, and food workers are a documented transmission route.
Unsanitized food contact surfaces multiply that risk. If a cutting board used for raw protein is not properly cleaned before it touches ready-to-eat food, the contamination chain runs directly to the customer's plate. The two handwashing violations at Siggy's mean the most basic barrier between that chain and a customer, a food handler washing their hands, was compromised both by the physical environment and by technique.
The Longer Record
The July 20 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Siggy's has been inspected 28 times and has accumulated 252 total violations across its inspection history. The bar has never been emergency-closed.
The six months leading up to July were not clean. In January 2026, inspectors found 6 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation, the most comparable single-visit total before this month's 7 high-severity citations. In August 2025, 3 high-severity violations were documented. In February 2025, a clean inspection was followed six days later by a return visit that found 5 high-severity violations.
The pattern across the past two years is one of high-severity violations appearing, a follow-up visit sometimes showing improvement, and then the violations returning. High-severity citation counts at Siggy's have gone: 1, then 3, then 0, then 5, then 0, then 3, then 6, and now 7. The direction of the most recent visits is not toward fewer violations.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented seven high-severity violations at Siggy's on July 20, 2026, including failures around parasite destruction, food surface sanitation, employee illness policy, and hand hygiene. Under Florida regulations, emergency closure is triggered when inspectors determine an imminent threat to public health exists. That determination was not made here.
Siggy's An American Bar on Malabar Road was not closed after the inspection. It remained open.
