MIAMI, FL. A Miami coffee shop was cited for serving food that had not reached the minimum required cooking temperature, storing toxic chemicals improperly near food, and operating without any employee health policy in place — eight high-severity violations in a single inspection on October 6, 2026. The state did not close We We's Coffee Shop on Biscayne Boulevard.
What Inspectors Found
The ten violations cited on October 6 included some of the most consequential categories in food safety enforcement. Inspectors documented that food had not been cooked to its required minimum temperature, a failure that allows pathogens like Salmonella in poultry to survive and reach a customer's plate. Toxic chemicals were found improperly stored or labeled near food, a condition that can cause acute poisoning if a mislabeled container is used in food preparation.
Inspectors also found that parasite destruction procedures had not been followed. For fish, pork, and wild game, proper freezing or cooking is the only reliable method to kill parasites including Anisakis and Trichinella. Without that step, those organisms can reach a diner intact.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized, meaning cutting boards, prep surfaces, and equipment that touched raw food could transfer bacteria to whatever was prepared next. Employees were observed using improper handwashing technique, which state records note leaves pathogens on hands even when a wash is attempted.
The facility was also cited for failing to use time as a public health control correctly. When a restaurant tracks time instead of temperature for holding food, any procedural error means food sits in the bacterial growth range, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, for longer than allowed. The inspection also found no person in charge present or performing supervisory duties, and no written employee health policy existed at the facility.
Two intermediate violations rounded out the report: improper sewage or wastewater disposal, and improper use of wiping cloths.
What These Violations Mean
The absence of an employee health policy is not a paperwork problem. Without a written policy, a sick employee has no formal instruction to stay home or avoid handling food. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads efficiently through food handled by an infected worker. At We We's, that structural gap existed alongside a finding that employees were not washing their hands correctly, creating two simultaneous transmission pathways.
The undercooked food violation is among the most direct routes from kitchen to illness. Salmonella in undercooked poultry survives at temperatures below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The parasite destruction failure compounds that risk for any fish or pork dishes on the menu, since neither Anisakis nor Trichinella is visible to a cook and neither is destroyed by anything short of adequate heat or verified freezing protocols.
Improperly stored toxic chemicals represent a different category of risk entirely. Contamination from a mislabeled or misplaced chemical container does not require a failure in cooking technique or personal hygiene. It requires only that the wrong bottle be used once.
Together, the ten violations documented on October 6 at We We's represent failures across multiple independent food safety systems, cooking, sanitation, personnel management, chemical storage, and waste disposal, occurring simultaneously in a single facility.
The Longer Record
The October 6 inspection was not the first time We We's Coffee Shop produced a serious violation count. State records show 27 inspections on file for the facility, with 158 total violations across that history.
The most comparable single-day total in the recent record came on September 23, 2025, when inspectors cited the shop for 10 high-severity and 4 intermediate violations, 14 in all. That inspection was followed by a return visit the next day, September 24, 2025, which found only 1 high-severity violation. The pattern repeated in March 2026: 6 high-severity violations on March 30, a follow-up on March 31 that found 1 high-severity violation, and then a clean inspection on April 7 with zero violations in either category.
The facility has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history.
What the record shows is a recurring cycle. Serious violations accumulate, a follow-up or subsequent inspection finds compliance, and the cycle resets. The June 2026 and April 2026 inspections both showed zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. Four months later, the October 6 inspection produced the second-highest single-day high-severity count in the shop's recent history.
Still Open
Florida's emergency closure authority is triggered when inspectors determine an imminent hazard to public health exists. Eight high-severity violations, including undercooked food, improperly stored toxic chemicals, absent managerial oversight, no employee health policy, and improper sewage disposal, did not meet that threshold at We We's Coffee Shop on October 6, 2026.
The restaurant on Biscayne Boulevard remained open to customers that day.
