ORLANDO, FL. A sushi restaurant on International Drive was cited for failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures on August 18, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella, which survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit in poultry, could reach a customer's plate alive. The inspection at Temak House Sushi Fusion at 5417 International Dr produced 8 high-severity violations and 2 intermediate violations. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking citation was not the only violation with immediate consequences for anyone who ate there that day. Inspectors also found that food contact surfaces, including the cutting boards and prep surfaces used in a sushi kitchen, had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. At a restaurant where raw fish is handled and plated continuously, that is a direct cross-contamination route.
Inspectors also cited food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated. The shellfish traceability record was inadequate, meaning there was no reliable way to trace oysters, clams, or mussels back to their harvest source if a customer became sick. And the restaurant had posted no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, leaving diners with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly, and children with no written warning before ordering.
No person in charge was present or performing duties during the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is, according to CDC data, the most direct route to a multi-victim outbreak. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads readily when a sick food worker handles food without restriction. A written policy requiring workers to report symptoms and stay home is the first line of defense. Temak House had neither.
The shellfish traceability failure is a separate but serious problem. Oysters and clams are filter feeders consumed raw or lightly cooked, and they concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water. The tag system that tracks shellfish from harvest bed to table exists specifically so health officials can identify the source within hours if customers fall ill. Without those records at Temak House, that chain breaks entirely.
The absence of a consumer advisory compounds the risk. A sushi restaurant by definition serves raw and undercooked fish. Florida law requires a written disclosure on the menu so that high-risk diners know what they are ordering. Inspectors found no such notice on August 18.
The management failure citation ties the rest together. CDC data shows that restaurants without active managerial control record three times as many critical violations as those with engaged supervision. Every other high-severity violation on this list is the kind of problem a present, attentive manager is supposed to catch before an inspector does.
The Longer Record
This was not a bad day at an otherwise clean restaurant. State inspection records show 41 inspections on file for Temak House Sushi Fusion, with 304 total violations documented across that history. The August 18 inspection, with 8 high-severity citations, was the worst single-day total in the recent record, but it did not come without warning.
The six inspections immediately preceding August 18 each produced high-severity violations. The September 2025 inspection logged 6 high-severity citations and 2 intermediate. The November 2025 visit produced 3 high-severity violations. The April 2025 inspection found 4 high-severity and 2 intermediate. High-severity violations have appeared in every inspection on record going back through 2024.
The restaurant was emergency-closed once before, on August 19, 2026, the day after this inspection, for roach activity. It reopened on August 21 after a follow-up inspection found zero high-severity violations and one intermediate. The August 18 inspection, with its 8 high-severity findings, did not itself trigger a closure order.
Still Open
By August 21, the follow-up inspection showed the roach-related closure resolved and the facility cleared to reopen. The violations from August 18, including undercooking, no illness policy, employees not reporting symptoms, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and no consumer advisory for raw fish, were not the basis for the closure order.
The restaurant is open on International Drive.
