TAMPA, FL. Inspectors visiting Top China Inc. on East Hillsborough Avenue on April 24 found that the restaurant had no procedures in place to destroy parasites in fish and other proteins, a high-severity violation that means customers eating improperly handled fish, pork, or wild game could ingest live Anisakis worms or tapeworm larvae.
The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The April 24 inspection produced 7 high-severity violations and 1 intermediate, a total of 8 citations across categories that span nearly every critical control point in a commercial kitchen. Inspectors cited inadequate shell stock identification records, meaning that if a customer became ill after eating oysters, clams, or mussels, there would be no paperwork to trace where those shellfish came from.
Inspectors also found that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, a direct vector for bacterial transfer between raw proteins and ready-to-eat food. The restaurant had no written employee health policy, which means there is no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to report symptoms or stay home.
The improper handwashing technique citation compounded that risk. An employee attempting to wash their hands but using incorrect technique, according to state health guidance, leaves pathogens on their hands even after the washing attempt.
Two additional high-severity violations pointed to failures in basic time and temperature management. The restaurant was cited for misusing time as a public health control, which means food was left in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees, without the documentation required to make that practice safe. There was also no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked menu items, leaving customers with no warning before ordering.
The single intermediate violation involved multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to form on surfaces within 24 hours of contamination.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction citation is among the most specific food safety failures documented in this inspection. Fish served undercooked or without proper prior freezing can harbor Anisakis, a roundworm that causes severe abdominal pain and can require surgical removal. Pork handled without Trichinella controls carries a similar risk. At Top China, inspectors found no evidence those procedures were being followed.
The shellfish traceability failure is a different kind of danger. Shellfish are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria and viruses from surrounding water, including Vibrio and hepatitis A. The tags and records required by state law exist for one reason: if people get sick, investigators need to be able to pull the shellfish back to its harvest location. Without those records at Top China, that chain is broken.
The combination of no employee health policy and improper handwashing technique is particularly acute at a restaurant where food is prepared by hand. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, spreads most efficiently through food handled by sick workers who did not properly wash their hands. Both of those controls failed in the same inspection.
The missing consumer advisory affects the most vulnerable customers specifically. Elderly diners, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems face the highest risk from raw or undercooked proteins. Without a posted advisory, they have no information on which to base that choice.
The Longer Record
The April 2026 inspection is not an outlier in Top China's history. State records show 26 inspections on file for the restaurant, with 233 total violations documented across that span. Every inspection in the available prior history, stretching back to March 2023, has included at least 3 high-severity violations. Most have included 5 or more.
The most recent inspection before April 24 was in November 2025, when inspectors found 5 high-severity and 1 intermediate violation. Before that, a February 2025 inspection produced 6 high-severity and 2 intermediate violations. The pattern does not show a restaurant cycling through occasional rough patches. It shows a restaurant that has produced high-severity violations at every documented visit for at least three years.
Top China has been emergency-closed three times, all for roach activity. The first closure came in January 2016. The second was in February 2021. The third was on July 2, 2024, when inspectors found roach activity serious enough to shut the restaurant down. It reopened the following day after a follow-up inspection. Two separate inspections on July 3, 2024, the day it reopened, still produced a combined 6 high-severity violations.
The July 2, 2024 closure is directly relevant to the April 2026 findings. A restaurant that was shut for roach activity less than two years ago, and that has now accumulated 7 high-severity violations in a single visit, was not closed this time.
It remained open on East Hillsborough Avenue with 233 violations in its state record and no posted warning to customers about the raw and undercooked items on its menu.