BOCA RATON, FL. State inspectors walked into Sushigo at 477 N Federal Highway on October 1 and found food from an unapproved or unknown source, a violation that means no federal safety agency had ever inspected what the restaurant was serving its customers. They documented five more high-severity violations on top of that. Then they left the restaurant open.
The October inspection produced six high-severity citations and two intermediate violations. That tally includes food in poor condition or adulterated, inadequate shell stock identification records, improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals stored improperly or without adequate labeling.
What Inspectors Found
The unapproved food source violation is the most direct threat to anyone who ate at Sushigo before the October 1 inspection. Food that bypasses USDA or FDA oversight carries no guarantee of safe handling, proper temperature control, or pathogen testing during processing. At a sushi restaurant, where fish is served raw or barely cooked, that gap is acute.
The missing shell stock records compound that risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are high-risk foods even under normal circumstances, because they are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water. State law requires restaurants to keep shellfish tags, identifying exactly where each batch came from and when it was harvested, so that health officials can trace an outbreak back to a specific harvest bed. Without those records, that traceability disappears entirely.
The consumer advisory violation means customers had no written notice that eating raw fish carries risk, a warning specifically required so that pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with compromised immune systems can make an informed choice. At a sushi restaurant, the absence of that advisory is not a paperwork oversight. It is the removal of the only information those customers had.
Inspectors also cited improperly cleaned food contact surfaces, a primary route for bacterial transfer between raw proteins and ready-to-eat foods. The two intermediate violations, multi-use utensils not properly cleaned and inadequate ventilation and lighting, add to a picture of systemic maintenance failures across the kitchen.
What These Violations Mean
The unapproved food source and shellfish traceability violations together describe a worst-case scenario for a raw-fish restaurant. If a customer became ill after eating at Sushigo, health officials would have no supply chain records to identify where the contamination originated, no lot numbers, no harvest location, no distributor. The investigation would stop before it started.
The improperly cleaned food contact surfaces violation matters in a sushi kitchen because the same cutting boards and prep surfaces used for raw fish are typically used repeatedly throughout a service. Bacterial biofilms, which can develop on inadequately sanitized surfaces within 24 hours, are resistant to standard cleaning methods once established. They are not visible to the naked eye.
The toxic chemicals citation is a separate category of risk entirely. Chemicals stored near or above food prep areas, or stored without proper labeling, can contaminate food through spills, aerosols, or mislabeled containers. At a restaurant already cited for food from unknown sources and adulterated product, the presence of improperly stored chemicals adds a chemical poisoning vector to an already long list of biological ones.
None of these violations required the restaurant to close under Florida's emergency closure standards. The facility remained open and serving customers after the inspection concluded.
The Longer Record
Sushigo Inspection History, 2024-2026
The October 2026 inspection is not an anomaly. State records show 25 inspections on file for Sushigo, with 89 total violations documented across that history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in the available inspection data follows a consistent cycle: a high-severity inspection, then a clean pass, then another high-severity inspection. In March 2026, inspectors found 7 high-severity violations. Three months later, in a December 2025 visit, the restaurant passed with zero. Before that, October 2025 produced 7 high-severity violations, followed by a clean April 2025 inspection.
That cycle suggests violations are addressed in time for a follow-up but recur before the next routine visit. The August 2024 inspection found 4 high-severity violations. The most recent eight inspections on record include five with high-severity citations.
The restaurant has accumulated those 89 violations across 25 inspections and has never triggered an emergency closure order. On October 1, 2026, with six high-severity violations including food from an unapproved source and no documentation of where its shellfish came from, it remained open for business.
