SEBRING, FL. Back in April 2026, a state inspector walked into THN Sebring, a health food store with food service on the premises, and found that the business still had not obtained a certified food protection manager — the same problem inspectors documented more than three years earlier.
That repeat citation was one of six violations recorded during the April 2, 2026 Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspection. None of the violations were corrected on site before the inspector left.
What Inspectors Found
The inspector noted that the store had only a food handler certificate posted, not the manager-level certification required by state rules. Those are two different credentials, and the distinction matters.
In the food service area, the inspector found that small scoops were stored with their handles in direct contact with powdered drink mixes sitting in open bulk food containers. That is a contamination concern at a store where customers are purchasing food by the scoop.
The restroom door in the back of the store was also flagged. The inspector noted the self-closure unit was not attached to the door, meaning it would not close automatically. Ceiling tiles were found missing in the back storage room.
The Policy Gaps
Two of the six violations were classified as priority foundation citations, a category that reflects failures in the underlying systems a food business needs to prevent illness, not just individual slip-ups.
The first involved employee health knowledge. The inspector noted that the person in charge had some familiarity with employee health requirements but did not have any written employee health information available to help answer questions about foodborne illness symptoms, reporting responsibilities, or when employees should be excluded or restricted from working. The inspector provided guidance on developing a policy.
The second priority foundation violation was the absence of a written procedure for handling vomit or diarrhea events. The inspector noted that no such written procedure existed at the establishment and provided management with a guidance handout to help them develop one.
Neither of those procedures had been put in writing before the inspector arrived. Neither was corrected before the inspector left.
What These Violations Mean
The repeat citation for no certified food protection manager is more than a paperwork issue. A certified food protection manager has completed training and passed an exam specifically covering how to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks, how to monitor temperatures, how to recognize when an employee should not be handling food, and how to respond when something goes wrong. A food handler certificate, which is what THN Sebring had posted, covers basic hygiene but does not require the same depth of knowledge or testing. At a store with food service, that gap in credentialed oversight is a structural weakness.
The two priority foundation violations compound that concern. When a person in charge cannot readily answer questions about employee health reporting, that means a sick employee could potentially continue working without anyone recognizing the risk. Foodborne illnesses spread through direct contact with food, and employees who work while ill with norovirus, hepatitis A, or Salmonella are a documented transmission route. The inspector at THN Sebring found the person in charge lacked the written resources to even answer basic questions on the subject.
The missing vomit and diarrhea cleanup procedure addresses a specific and serious contamination scenario. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in retail food settings, spreads rapidly through aerosolized particles during these events. Without a written step-by-step procedure, staff may not know to use the correct disinfectants, the correct personal protective equipment, or how to contain the area. The inspector gave management a handout. Whether a written procedure now exists at the store is not reflected in the April 2 record.
The bulk food scoop issue is worth noting in context. At a health food store where customers expect products to be handled carefully, scoops stored handle-down in open powdered drink containers represent a direct contamination path from hands to product to other customers.
The Longer Record
THN Sebring has two FDACS inspections on record. The first was on February 9, 2023, when inspectors documented seven violations and the store met inspection requirements. The April 2, 2026 inspection recorded six violations and the store again met the overall threshold to remain open.
The gap between those two inspections is more than three years. In that time, one of the violations from the 2023 visit, the absence of a certified food protection manager, was not resolved. It showed up again in April 2026, marked as a repeat.
That is the core of the record here: a store with only two documented inspections, a three-year window between them, and the same foundational management credential missing at both visits.
As of the April 2, 2026 inspection, none of the six violations had been corrected on site, and the store had no written employee illness policy and no written cleanup procedure for vomit or diarrhea events on the premises.