CASSELBERRY, FL. Toxic chemicals were stored improperly near food at Sourdough Breadhouse at 5761 US Hwy 17-92 when a state inspector arrived on July 23, one of eight high-severity violations documented that day at the Seminole County restaurant.
The inspector also found a second chemical violation: toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used on the premises. Two separate chemical citations in a single inspection visit signals more than a filing error.
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The cooking temperature violation is among the most direct dangers in the record. Food not brought to its required minimum internal temperature can leave Salmonella alive in poultry and other pathogens intact in meat, and customers have no way to know a dish was undercooked.
Food contact surfaces, including cutting boards and prep tables, were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Improperly cleaned surfaces are a primary route for bacterial transfer from raw protein to ready-to-eat food. The inspector also found food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated.
The restaurant had no written employee health policy at the time of inspection. Without one, there is no formal mechanism to keep a sick worker out of the kitchen or off the prep line.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique. Employees who wash hands incorrectly leave pathogens behind even when they attempt to wash, and that failure compounds every other contamination risk in the building.
The four intermediate violations added to the picture. Multi-use utensils were not properly cleaned, sanitizer solutions or procedures were improper, single-use items were being reused, and toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained. Inadequate restroom facilities reduce the likelihood that employees wash hands at all.
What These Violations Mean
The two chemical violations together describe a facility where substances capable of causing acute poisoning were not kept separate from food or properly labeled. Mislabeled chemicals can be mistaken for food-safe products. Chemicals stored near food can contaminate surfaces, containers, or the food itself without any visible sign.
The cooking temperature citation and the food contact surface citation are a compounding pair. If a surface used to prep raw protein is not sanitized and food is also not cooked to a temperature that kills surviving bacteria, both failure points point toward the same outcome: a customer ingesting live pathogens.
The absence of a consumer advisory matters specifically for vulnerable customers. Elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone immunocompromised face elevated risk from raw or undercooked items. Without a posted advisory, they have no warning that certain dishes on the menu carry that risk.
Norovirus is highly contagious and spreads quickly through a restaurant when sick employees handle food without a health policy in place to keep them home. The Centers for Disease Control attributes roughly 20 million cases of gastroenteritis per year to Norovirus in the United States. A written health policy is one of the most basic structural defenses against an outbreak.
The Longer Record
July 23 was not an outlier. State records show Sourdough Breadhouse has been inspected 12 times and has accumulated 92 total violations across those visits.
The two inspections immediately preceding July 23 both included high-severity violations: five high and two intermediate in February 2026, and seven high and three intermediate in September 2025. The September 2025 inspection alone matched this week's high-severity count.
Going further back, the April 2025 inspection also produced seven high-severity violations. The facility has recorded four high-severity violations or more in six of its last eight inspections.
The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The Pattern
High-severity violation counts at Sourdough Breadhouse by inspection, most recent first: 8, 5, 1, 7, 7, 2, 4, 5, 5. The single-digit dip to one high violation in November 2025 stands as the only inspection in recent memory that could be called clean. It did not hold.
The categories repeat. Food handling, temperature control, and sanitation failures appear across multiple inspection cycles, not as isolated incidents. A facility that corrects a violation and sees it return in a subsequent inspection is a different problem than a facility encountering a violation for the first time.
The inspector left on July 23 with 8 high-severity citations written. Sourdough Breadhouse remained open for service.
