DELAND, FL. Back in January 2026, a state food safety inspector walked into a DeLand Wawa and found sandwich-making utensils and cutting boards that had been in continuous use since 6:00 a.m., still unwashed at 10:42 a.m., more than four hours into a shift.
State rules require food-contact surfaces used with temperature-controlled foods to be cleaned at least every four hours. At Wawa #5292 on the date of inspection, that threshold had already been crossed. The inspector noted the utensils were swapped out and sent to the warewash sinks during the visit, but the violation had already been documented.
That was not the only serious finding.
What Inspectors Found
The manager on duty could not correctly answer questions about preventing foodborne illness, according to the inspector's notes. The inspector provided an Employee Health Guide during the visit. That kind of knowledge gap matters most in a store that prepares made-to-order sandwiches and handles temperature-controlled food throughout the day.
The store's written cleanup procedures for vomiting and diarrheal events were also found to be incomplete. Specifically, the procedures were missing a required component: instructions for discarding exposed food and single-service items after such an event. The inspector provided a guidance document on site.
In the barista area, the spray nozzle at the blender sink had a mold-like substance on it. Coffee filters in the same area were stored uncovered, though an employee covered them during the inspection.
The walk-in cooler had debris under shelves throughout. The door gasket on the walk-in cooler was in disrepair. In the back room, a fan unit condensate collection system was leaking, creating icicles on piping inside the walk-in freezer. The ice cream chest freezer in the retail area had heavy ice buildup on its interior surfaces and on packages of ice cream stored inside.
No handwash sign was posted in the men's restroom in the back room. A manager posted one during the inspection.
The store met sanitation inspection requirements overall, finishing with 10 total violations, including one priority violation and two priority-foundation violations.
What These Violations Mean
The priority violation, cutting boards and utensils left uncleaned for more than four hours during sandwich preparation, is a direct food safety risk. Bacteria multiply on food-contact surfaces when they are not cleaned and sanitized at regular intervals. In a store where sandwiches are assembled continuously through a morning shift, surfaces that last saw a warewash sink at 6:00 a.m. are a contamination vector for every item prepared in the hours that follow.
The manager's inability to answer basic foodborne illness questions is a structural problem, not a paperwork one. A person in charge is expected to know which symptoms require an employee to be excluded from food handling, which illnesses must be reported, and how to respond if a customer or employee becomes ill. When that knowledge is absent, the store's first line of defense against an outbreak is gone.
The incomplete vomiting and diarrheal event procedures compound that concern. The missing component, instructions to discard exposed food and single-use items after a contamination event, is not a technicality. Norovirus, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness outbreaks in retail food environments, spreads through exactly the kind of surface and food contact that incomplete cleanup protocols leave unaddressed.
The mold-like substance on the blender sink spray nozzle in the barista area is a direct food-contact concern. That nozzle touches equipment used to prepare beverages sold to customers. It was not corrected during the inspection.
The Longer Record
Wawa #5292, DeLand: Inspection History
The January 2026 inspection was the fourth FDACS inspection on record at this location. The violation count has climbed with each routine inspection: four violations in May 2023, six in September 2024, and ten in January 2026.
The September 2024 inspection included a repeat violation, meaning inspectors had flagged the same issue at a prior visit and found it unresolved. The January 2026 inspection recorded no repeat violations, but it produced the highest total violation count in the store's inspection history and the first documented instance of a manager unable to answer foodborne illness questions.
The April 2024 focused inspection found zero violations, which typically reflects a narrower scope than a full sanitation inspection. The full inspections show a store where problems have grown more numerous, not fewer, over three years.
None of the violations from January 2026 involving physical conditions, the icicles in the walk-in freezer, the broken cooler door gasket, the ice buildup on the chest freezer, or the mold-like substance on the blender nozzle, were marked as corrected on site.