CASSELBERRY, FL. Back in April 2026, state inspectors walked into Wa Sushi on State Road 436 and documented food coming from unapproved or unknown sources, a finding that sits at the top of any food safety concern list because it means no government inspector ever verified that food was safe before it reached a customer's plate.

That was one of six high-severity violations recorded on April 9. The restaurant was not closed.

What Inspectors Found

1HIGHFood from unapproved or unknown sourceNo traceability
2HIGHFood not cooked to required minimum temperaturePathogen survival risk
3HIGHFood contact surfaces not properly cleaned/sanitizedCross-contamination vector
4HIGHToxic chemicals improperly stored or labeledAcute poisoning risk
5HIGHNo consumer advisory for raw/undercooked foodsVulnerable customers uninformed
6HIGHNo employee health policy or inadequate policyDisease transmission risk

The food sourcing violation was not the only one that raised immediate concern. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for failing to cook food to required minimum temperatures, a direct pathway for bacterial pathogens to survive and reach a customer's meal.

Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food. That citation, combined with the unsanitized food contact surfaces finding, meant that on the same afternoon customers were ordering rolls, inspectors were documenting multiple routes by which harmful substances or bacteria could transfer directly onto food.

The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items. For a sushi operation serving raw fish as a core part of its menu, that absence left customers with no written notice of the elevated risk, even as inspectors were documenting other high-severity problems in the same facility.

Rounding out the six citations was a finding of no employee health policy or an inadequate one. Without that policy in place, there is no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to stay away from food preparation.

What These Violations Mean

The food from unapproved sources violation carries consequences that extend well beyond the day of inspection. When food bypasses USDA or FDA oversight, there is no paper trail. If a customer becomes ill, investigators cannot trace the food back through a regulated supply chain to identify the source or the scope of contamination. Listeria and Salmonella are among the pathogens that inspections in the regulated supply chain are specifically designed to catch before food reaches a kitchen.

The undercooking citation compounds that risk. At a sushi restaurant, some raw items are intentionally served uncooked and require a consumer advisory so diners can make an informed choice. But food that should be cooked and is not reaching minimum temperature is a different problem entirely. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. A customer eating undercooked food at Wa Sushi in April had no way of knowing that inspectors had documented that exact problem hours or days before.

Improperly stored or unlabeled toxic chemicals near food represent an acute, immediate hazard. Mislabeled chemicals can be mistaken for food-safe substances. Chemicals stored near food preparation areas can contaminate surfaces or ingredients through spillage or aerosol. Combined with the finding that food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, the April inspection described a kitchen where multiple contamination pathways were simultaneously active.

The missing employee health policy is the violation that operates invisibly. A worker with Norovirus, which is responsible for roughly 20 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year, has no formal policy requiring them to report symptoms or stay home. At a restaurant where surfaces were already cited as improperly sanitized, a sick employee handling food is not a theoretical risk.

The Longer Record

The April 2026 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Wa Sushi has been inspected 18 times and has accumulated 106 violations across that history.

The two inspections immediately preceding April's visit tell a consistent story. In February 2026, just two months earlier, inspectors cited the restaurant for seven high-severity violations with zero intermediate ones. In September 2025, the tally was four high-severity and two intermediate violations. The April inspection, with six high-severity citations, fits squarely within a pattern that has held across multiple years.

Wa Sushi: Recent Inspection History

April 9, 20266 high-severity violations. Food from unapproved source, undercooking, unsanitized surfaces, chemical storage, no consumer advisory, no health policy.
February 3, 20267 high-severity violations, 0 intermediate.
September 4, 20254 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.
April 30, 20255 high-severity, 2 intermediate violations.
March 25, 20246 high-severity, 0 intermediate violations.
May 15, 20238 high-severity, 0 intermediate violations.

Going back further, the March 2024 inspection produced an identical count to April 2026: six high-severity violations, zero intermediate. In May 2023, the number was eight high-severity violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed across its 18 inspections on record.

The food sourcing violation documented in April is particularly notable in the context of that history. Inspectors have returned to this address repeatedly over multiple years, and the categories of concern have not narrowed. A sushi restaurant with 106 total violations, a two-month gap between a seven-high-severity inspection and a six-high-severity inspection, and food arriving from sources that cannot be verified was still serving customers on April 9, 2026.

It remained open after inspectors left.