MIDDLEBURG, FL. A state inspector visiting Verde Vida at 1660 Jeremiah St. on June 23 found food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and no person in charge present or performing duties. The restaurant was not closed.
Six of the eight violations documented that day were classified as high severity. Two were intermediate. State inspectors left the facility open.
What Inspectors Found
The most direct threat to anyone who ate at Verde Vida that day was the finding that food was not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Undercooking is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness in the United States. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and a single undercooked serving can cause illness.
At the same visit, the inspector documented that employees were not reporting symptoms of illness. That violation appeared alongside a separate finding that the restaurant had no written employee health policy, or an inadequate one. Those two violations together mean the facility had no formal system for keeping sick workers out of the kitchen, and no documentation that workers were required to report when they felt ill.
Improper handwashing technique was also cited as a high-severity violation. The inspector noted that employees were not washing their hands correctly, not simply that they were skipping the step. That distinction matters: a worker who attempts to wash but uses improper technique still leaves pathogens on their hands.
Food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated rounded out the high-severity findings. The inspector also cited two intermediate violations: multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms is among the most dangerous patterns an inspector can document in a food service setting. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads primarily through infected food workers who continue to handle food while symptomatic. Without a written policy and a culture of reporting, there is no mechanism to catch that risk before it reaches a customer's plate.
The undercooked food violation compounds that picture. When food is not brought to required internal temperatures, any pathogens present in the raw product survive. That is not a paperwork problem. It is the direct mechanism by which Salmonella and other bacteria reach a customer.
The management failure violation, person in charge not present or not performing duties, is what connects all the others. CDC data shows that facilities without active managerial control record three times as many critical violations as those with engaged management on the floor. At Verde Vida on June 23, the inspector found both the absence of management and six of the violations that absence enables.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils carry their own sustained risk. Bacterial biofilms can form on inadequately cleaned surfaces within 24 hours, and those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning agents once established.
The Longer Record
Verde Vida has a short inspection history. State records show two inspections on file, with eleven total violations across both visits.
The prior inspection, conducted on October 7, 2025, recorded zero high-severity violations and zero intermediate violations. That visit was clean. The jump to six high-severity violations in eight months is the sharpest possible contrast the facility's own record can show.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed. But the October 2025 inspection offers no evidence of an underlying compliance problem that simply went unaddressed. These violations, at this severity, appear to be new.
Open for Business
After documenting six high-severity violations at Verde Vida, including undercooked food, employees not reporting illness, and no person in charge on duty, the state inspector did not order the restaurant closed.
Verde Vida remained open.
The facility's prior inspection, less than nine months earlier, showed none of these problems. On June 23, 2026, a customer walking in for lunch had no way of knowing that the food on their plate had not been cooked to required temperatures, that the workers who prepared it were operating without a health reporting policy, and that no manager was present to catch either failure.
The restaurant stayed open that day, and the record shows it.
