BOCA RATON, FL. When state inspectors walked into Trattoria Nonna on SW 18th Street on August 19, they found a restaurant with no written employee health policy, no one in charge performing managerial duties, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. They documented eight high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. Then they left, and the restaurant stayed open.
The parasite destruction citation alone sets this inspection apart. State records show inspectors flagged that proper freezing or cooking procedures for fish had not been followed, a violation that carries direct risk of parasitic infection from organisms including Anisakis and tapeworm. At an Italian restaurant where raw or lightly prepared fish dishes are common, that finding is not a paperwork problem.
What Inspectors Found
Three of the eight high-severity violations point to a breakdown in how the restaurant handles employee illness. Inspectors cited the absence of a written health policy, documented that employees were not reporting illness symptoms, and noted that no person in charge was present or actively performing managerial duties. Those three failures tend to travel together.
Toxic substances were improperly identified, stored, or used. That citation sits alongside the food contact surface violation, meaning that during the same inspection, chemicals were not properly controlled and the surfaces used to prepare food had not been adequately cleaned or sanitized.
Inspectors also flagged food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and noted the absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. Both violations affect customers directly. A missing consumer advisory means diners with compromised immune systems, the elderly, pregnant women, and young children had no written notice that certain dishes carried elevated risk.
The two intermediate violations added improper sewage or wastewater disposal and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned. Raw sewage exposure creates fecal contamination risk throughout a facility. Improperly cleaned utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours, films that standard washing does not remove.
What These Violations Mean
The parasite destruction failure is the violation most likely to produce a sick customer. When fish is served without being frozen to the temperatures and timeframes required by state code, parasites including Anisakis, a roundworm found in saltwater fish, survive into the finished dish. Infection causes severe abdominal pain and, in some cases, requires surgical removal of the parasite from the stomach wall. At a trattoria where crudo, carpaccio, or lightly seared fish may appear on the menu, this is not a theoretical risk.
The employee illness cluster is a different category of danger. Norovirus, the most common cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurant settings, spreads primarily through infected food workers who do not know they are required to report symptoms, or who work at a restaurant that has no written policy requiring them to do so. Trattoria Nonna had neither. The CDC estimates Norovirus causes 20 million illnesses annually in the United States, and restaurants without active managerial health policies account for a disproportionate share of those cases.
The toxic substances violation is the one that carries the most immediate potential for harm in a single incident. Cleaning chemicals stored near or above food prep areas, or improperly labeled, can contaminate food directly. Combined with food contact surfaces that were not properly sanitized, the August 19 inspection describes a kitchen where the basic controls separating chemicals from food had broken down.
The Longer Record
The August 2026 inspection is not an anomaly. State records show Trattoria Nonna has been inspected 28 times and has accumulated 166 total violations across its history. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity citations is consistent across years. In February 2026, six months before this inspection, inspectors documented five high-severity and two intermediate violations. In October 2025, three high and two intermediate. In April 2025, three high and two intermediate. In December 2024, five high violations. The only inspection in recent years with no high or intermediate violations was February 2025, a single clean visit between two inspections that each produced multiple serious citations.
Going back further, July 2023 produced five high-severity and one intermediate violation. December 2022 produced two high and one intermediate. The restaurant has logged high-severity violations in seven of the eight most recent inspections on record.
The February 2025 clean inspection is the exception that makes the pattern legible. One visit with no violations, surrounded on both sides by inspections with five high-severity citations each. The record does not show a restaurant trending toward compliance.
Still Open
State law gives inspectors the authority to order an emergency closure when conditions pose an immediate threat to public health. Eight high-severity violations, including a parasite destruction failure, improperly stored toxic substances, no employee health policy, and no person in charge performing duties, did not meet that threshold on August 19.
Trattoria Nonna was not closed. It remained open for business that evening.
