ST. JOHNS, FL. A state inspector visiting Wakame at 104 Bartram Oaks Walk on May 29 found fish being served without any documentation that it had been treated to destroy parasites, a violation that carries direct health consequences for anyone who ate raw or lightly prepared seafood that day.
That was one of nine high-severity violations documented during the visit. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction citation means the restaurant could not show it had frozen fish to required temperatures or cooked it thoroughly enough to kill organisms like Anisakis, a roundworm found in raw fish that causes severe abdominal pain and can require surgical removal.
Alongside that, inspectors cited food from an unapproved or unknown source. That means at least some of what was being served that day had not passed through federally regulated supply chains, and there is no way to trace it if a customer gets sick.
Inspectors also cited inadequate shell stock identification records. Wakame is a sushi restaurant. Shellfish served raw or lightly prepared without proper tagging records cannot be traced to a harvest location or tested water source if an illness cluster emerges.
The remaining high-severity citations covered contaminated food, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, toxic chemicals stored or labeled incorrectly, misuse of time as a public health control, inadequate handwashing facilities, and no person in charge actively overseeing operations. Three intermediate violations were also documented, covering single-use items being reused, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
Parasite destruction failures at a sushi restaurant are not a paperwork problem. Anisakis larvae survive in raw or undercooked fish and can embed in the stomach or intestine wall. Symptoms can mimic appendicitis. The standard safeguard is freezing fish at specific temperatures for a set period before service. When a restaurant cannot document that process, there is no way to know whether it happened.
The food-from-unapproved-source violation compounds that risk. USDA and FDA inspections exist to catch contamination before product reaches a kitchen. Food that bypasses those inspections, whether purchased from an unlicensed supplier or an unknown origin, carries no such screening. If a customer becomes ill, investigators have no chain of custody to follow.
The shell stock traceability failure is its own category of concern. Oysters, clams, and mussels filter water and concentrate pathogens including Vibrio and norovirus. Harvest tags are required precisely because illnesses from raw shellfish can be traced to specific beds, and those beds can be closed. Without records, that public health response is impossible.
The absence of a person in charge actively performing duties ties several other violations together. CDC data links facilities without active managerial oversight to three times as many critical violations. On May 29 at Wakame, inspectors found nine of them.
The Longer Record
Wakame Inspection History: High-Severity Violations
The May 29 inspection was the 32nd on record for Wakame. Across those 32 inspections, state records show 328 total violations. The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern in recent years is consistent. In January 2023, inspectors documented 12 high-severity violations. In September 2023, 10. In May 2024, 7. In May 2025, 7 again. December 2025 brought 4. May 2026 brought 9. There is no sustained period in the recent record where high-severity violations dropped to zero and stayed there.
The facility has had clean follow-up inspections, including one on July 29, 2024 that showed no high or intermediate violations. But the clean inspections have not translated into clean subsequent visits. The high-severity counts have continued to reappear, and the categories, food sourcing, parasite controls, management presence, have recurred across multiple inspection years.
On the afternoon of May 29, 2026, after an inspector documented nine high-severity violations at a raw-seafood restaurant, Wakame remained open for business.