TAMPA, FL. Back in March 2026, a state inspector walked into Storm, a specialty food shop in Tampa, and watched an employee finish a cash register transaction, pull on gloves, and begin working with food, all without stopping to wash their hands first.
That was the single highest-priority violation in an inspection that turned up 11 total findings at the shop on March 5. The inspector noted the employee "washed hands when instructed to do so," meaning the correction happened only after the inspector intervened.
What Inspectors Found
The handwashing lapse was not the only concern tied to bare hands and exposed food. Inspectors also found food employees wearing nail polish on their fingers while preparing customer drinks without wearing gloves. That is a separate, distinct finding from the handwashing violation, and it was not corrected on site during the inspection.
Scoops in large containers of oats and "pb3 powder" had their handles submerged in the products themselves, a condition that allows whatever is on an employee's hand to transfer directly into the food supply for the next customer. Utensils in the food service area were also stored in stagnant water measuring 68 degrees, well above the temperature threshold that prevents bacterial growth in standing liquid. The inspector noted those utensils were cleaned and sanitized before being moved to a clean, dry container.
Employee beverages were sitting on a prep table alongside exposed foods and utensils. An unlabeled bottle of agave syrup was in the reach-in cooler with no common name on it. Food employees in the service area were working without hair restraints. A wet mop in the mop sink area had not been hung to dry.
The Sink Problem
Two handwashing sinks at Storm had no hot water when the inspector arrived. One was in the back room, one in the restroom.
The back room sink was resolved during the visit: the inspector found that the hot water valve had simply been turned off, and once it was turned back on, hot water was restored. The soap at that same sink was also missing and was provided during the inspection.
The restroom sink was a different situation. The inspector noted the firm had 30 days to provide hot water to that sink, or a Stop Use Order would be issued. That deadline ran from the March 5 inspection date.
The shop also had no sanitizer test strips on hand, meaning employees had no reliable way to verify that their sanitizing solution was mixed at a concentration strong enough to actually kill pathogens. The inspector noted no sanitizing violations were observed during the visit, but the absence of test strips is itself a foundational violation.
What These Violations Mean
The handwashing violation carries the most direct public health consequence of anything found at Storm that day. A person who handles cash, then handles food or a food-contact surface without washing their hands, transfers whatever was on the money and the register directly into the product a customer is about to consume. Specialty food shops that prepare made-to-order drinks and smoothies are particularly exposed to this risk because the preparation is hands-on and the product is consumed immediately, with no cooking step to kill anything introduced along the way.
The nail polish finding compounds that concern. Nail polish can chip and flake into food. More critically, polished nails are harder to clean thoroughly, and the regulation requiring gloves when nail polish is present exists precisely because the surface under and around decorated nails is difficult to decontaminate. Inspectors found employees with polished nails preparing customer drinks without gloves. That finding was not corrected during the inspection.
No hot water at a handwashing sink is not a minor housekeeping issue. Hot water is a required component of effective handwashing. A sink without it is a sink that employees are less likely to use correctly, or at all. The 30-day compliance window on the restroom sink means that as of the inspection date, that sink remained out of compliance with no immediate fix in place.
The missing sanitizer test strips matter because sanitizer concentration degrades over time and with use. Without test strips, there is no way to know whether the solution being used to clean food-contact surfaces is working. A solution that is too weak does not kill pathogens. A solution that is too strong can leave chemical residue on surfaces that touch food.
The Longer Record
Storm had two follow-up inspections after the March 5 visit, both recorded as focused inspections. The March 17 check found zero violations. The March 31 check also found zero violations.
That turnaround is notable. Eleven violations on March 5, including four priority foundation findings and one priority violation, resolved to a clean record within two focused inspections. The prior inspection record contains only those two follow-up visits, meaning there is no deeper history available to establish whether the conditions found in March were a one-time lapse or part of a recurring pattern.
What the record does show is that the restroom handwashing sink, the one that carried a 30-day Stop Use Order deadline, had not been flagged as a resolved item in the March 5 inspection itself. Whether that sink had hot water restored before the March 17 focused inspection is not specified in the available records.