ORLANDO, FL. A state inspector walked into Spice Thai Restaurant on S Semoran Boulevard on July 13 and found food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, and no one in charge performing their duties. Six high-severity violations were documented in a single visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate there that day. Poultry that does not reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit can carry live Salmonella. There is no visual way for a customer to know whether a dish reached that temperature.
The employee illness violation compounds the risk. A food worker who does not report symptoms and continues handling food is the most direct route to a multi-victim outbreak. Norovirus, in particular, spreads through exactly this mechanism.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique, meaning employees were making an attempt to wash their hands but doing it incorrectly, leaving pathogens on their hands before touching food. The absence of an active person in charge, documented as a separate high-severity violation, creates conditions where none of these problems get caught or corrected in real time.
Two additional high-severity findings rounded out the list. The restaurant was cited for failing to properly use time as a public health control, a method that allows food to sit in the temperature danger zone for a limited period only when strict tracking is maintained. That tracking was not maintained. The restaurant also had no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, meaning customers who are pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised had no way to make an informed decision about what they ordered.
The three intermediate violations included multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooking and employee illness violations together represent the two most direct pathways to foodborne illness in a restaurant setting. Undercooking allows bacterial pathogens like Salmonella to survive in food that looks and smells normal. Salmonella infection causes severe gastrointestinal illness and can be fatal in vulnerable populations. There is no way to detect it without a thermometer.
The employee illness violation is categorized by the CDC as the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks. When a sick worker does not report symptoms, they continue preparing and handling food with no intervention. Norovirus can be transmitted by a single infected employee to dozens of customers within a single service period.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms, layers of bacteria that bond to surfaces and resist standard cleaning. These biofilms can transfer pathogens to every dish those utensils touch. At Spice Thai, utensils were not being cleaned to the standard required to prevent this.
The failure to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items is not a paperwork violation. It removes the only mechanism that allows high-risk customers to protect themselves. A pregnant woman or a person on immunosuppressive medication cannot ask whether a dish carries risk if they do not know the risk category exists.
The Longer Record
The July 13 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Spice Thai has been inspected 33 times and has accumulated 340 total violations across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity violations is consistent across years. In May 2024, inspectors documented 8 high-severity violations in a single visit, followed by 5 high-severity violations three weeks later. In August 2024, another 7 high-severity violations were recorded. The restaurant entered 2025 with 7 high-severity violations on March 5, then 4 more on March 6, the following day.
The August 2025 inspection found 5 high-severity violations. The January 2026 inspection found 1. Then July 13, 2026 brought 6 more.
A callback inspection on July 14, the day after the inspection that triggered this report, found zero high-severity violations and one intermediate. That one-day turnaround is consistent with the broader pattern: violations accumulate, a follow-up inspection clears the most serious findings, and the cycle continues. The 340 total violations on record are the cumulative result of that cycle playing out over 33 inspections.
Open for Business
Florida law allows inspectors to close a restaurant immediately when conditions pose an imminent threat to public health. Six high-severity violations, including undercooked food and an employee not reporting illness symptoms, did not meet that threshold at Spice Thai on July 13.
The restaurant served customers that day.
