CLERMONT, FL. Inspectors visiting Tijuana Flats Burrito Company at 2560 Hwy 50 on May 21 found toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled near food, an allergen awareness failure that state records describe as capable of triggering life-threatening reactions, and evidence that parasite destruction procedures were not being followed. The restaurant was not closed.
The inspection turned up seven high-severity violations and six intermediate violations, a total of 13 citations from a single visit at the Lake County location. State inspectors left the restaurant open.
What Inspectors Found
The most direct hazard documented was the improper storage and labeling of toxic chemicals near food. When cleaning agents or other chemicals are stored without proper separation or labeling, a mislabeled container can be mistaken for a food-safe product and contaminate a meal before anyone realizes what happened.
The allergen finding is the kind of violation that ends up in an emergency room. State records note that food allergies affect 32 million Americans and cause roughly 30,000 emergency room visits each year. A restaurant where staff cannot demonstrate basic allergen awareness is a restaurant where a customer with a peanut, shellfish, or soy allergy has no reliable way to make a safe choice.
Parasite destruction failures were also cited. Without proper freezing or cooking protocols, parasites including Anisakis in fish and Trichinella in pork can survive and infect customers. This citation does not appear in isolation: it was one of seven high-severity findings on the same visit.
Inspectors also documented food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. An improperly sanitized cutting board or prep surface is one of the most reliable transfer points for bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli from raw proteins to ready-to-eat food.
The intermediate violations added a second layer of concern. Improper sewage or wastewater disposal, inspectors noted, creates a risk of fecal contamination throughout the facility. Multi-use utensils that are not properly cleaned develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours, films that standard washing does not remove. Inadequate ventilation, improper waste disposal, and equipment in poor repair rounded out the intermediate findings.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no allergen awareness and food in poor condition is especially serious for vulnerable customers. Elderly diners, pregnant women, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system rely on staff to flag cross-contact risks. When that knowledge is absent, a routine burrito order carries a risk the customer has no way of knowing about.
The time-as-public-health-control failure means food was allowed to sit in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without being tracked or discarded within required limits. Bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus can double every 20 minutes in that range. This violation was cited alongside improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, which means contamination could have entered food from two directions simultaneously.
The sewage finding is not a paperwork violation. Raw sewage contains E. coli, Hepatitis A, Norovirus, and Salmonella. Improper disposal at a food service facility creates exposure risk for anyone in the kitchen, and potentially for food being prepared nearby.
The sanitizer failure compounds the utensil and surface findings. If sanitizer concentration is too low, pathogens survive the cleaning process. If it is too high, it leaves a chemical residue on surfaces that contact food. Either way, the last line of defense against bacterial transfer was not functioning correctly on May 21.
The Longer Record
This was not an unusual day at this location. State records show 33 inspections on file and 332 total violations accumulated over the life of the facility. The May 21 inspection was the second consecutive visit to produce exactly seven high-severity violations and six intermediate violations: inspectors documented the identical severity counts on March 18, just ten weeks earlier.
The eight most recent inspections in the record are a consistent picture. The March 2024 visit produced 10 high-severity and six intermediate violations, the worst single-visit total in the recent history. The October 2024 inspection turned up seven high and seven intermediate. The May 2023 and May 2023 inspections, conducted on consecutive days, produced nine high and four intermediate followed by seven high and four intermediate.
There have been no emergency closures in the facility's inspection history.
The September 2025 inspection showed a lower count, four high and five intermediate, but that relative improvement did not hold. By April 2025 the tally was back to six high and three intermediate, and by October 2024 it had climbed to seven high and seven intermediate. The pattern across three years is not one of a restaurant working toward compliance. It is one of a restaurant cycling through the same severity tier, inspection after inspection.
Open for Business
On May 21, 2026, after documenting toxic chemicals stored near food, an allergen awareness failure, parasite control violations, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, and sewage disposal concerns, state inspectors left the Clermont Tijuana Flats open.
It was the 33rd inspection on record for this address.