WEST PALM BEACH, FL. State inspectors cited Cambridge Holdco LLC on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard for 11 high-severity violations during a single visit last week, the highest tally among seven West Palm Beach facilities that drew serious citations between September 28 and October 4, 2026.
The violations at the Royal Palm Beach Boulevard address covered nearly every layer of food safety: no person in charge present and performing duties, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, inadequate shellfish identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and food not cooked to required minimum temperature. Four intermediate violations accompanied the eight listed above.
That combination, management absent, sick workers unreported, food undercooked, surfaces unsanitized, is the profile inspectors associate with facilities at the highest risk of triggering a multi-victim illness event.
What Inspectors Found Across the City
Pinolandia Fritanga and Tortilleria on North Military Trail drew five high-severity citations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shellfish identification records, employees not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Two intermediate violations added to the record: improper sewage or wastewater disposal and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
The sewage and toilet facility citations at Pinolandia are notable because they compound the handwashing problem. When restroom infrastructure is inadequate, the handwashing failures inspectors already documented become harder, not easier, to fix.
Tacos del Cartel on Clematis Street was cited for four high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, no employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, and no consumer advisory posted for raw or undercooked foods. Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils rounded out the inspection as an intermediate violation.
The unapproved food source citation at Tacos del Cartel raises a specific concern: food that bypasses USDA or FDA inspection carries no traceability if a customer becomes ill. There is no chain of records to follow.
Dunkin Donuts on Southern Boulevard was cited for three high-severity violations, among them toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. The other two were employees not reporting illness symptoms and inadequate shellfish identification records. Multi-use utensils not properly cleaned was listed as intermediate.
The toxic substances citation at a Dunkin Donuts is unusual and worth noting on its own. Cleaning chemicals stored or labeled improperly near food preparation areas create a direct route to chemical contamination of food or beverages.
BurgerFi on South Rosemary Avenue was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no allergen awareness demonstrated. Inadequate ventilation and lighting was the intermediate violation.
The allergen awareness citation at BurgerFi is significant. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans, and a facility that cannot demonstrate allergen awareness puts customers with serious allergies at direct risk when they order.
Courtyard by Marriott West Palm Beach Airport on Centrepark Drive East drew two high-severity citations: employees not reporting illness symptoms and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. No intermediate violations were listed.
Banyan Golf Club on Lyons Road was also cited for two high-severity violations: no person in charge present or performing duties and no employee health policy. Like the Marriott, it carried no intermediate violations alongside its high-severity citations.
What These Violations Mean
The most common high-severity violation across this week's seven facilities was employees not reporting illness symptoms, cited at Cambridge Holdco, Pinolandia, Dunkin Donuts, and the Courtyard Marriott. Food workers who are sick and do not report it are the leading cause of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million infections annually in the United States, spreads rapidly through food handling by symptomatic workers. A single infected employee touching food at a high-volume location can expose dozens of customers in a single shift.
The absence of an employee health policy, cited at Cambridge Holdco, Tacos del Cartel, and Banyan Golf Club, is the upstream failure that makes the reporting problem worse. Without a written policy, workers have no formal instruction about when to stay home, and managers have no documented standard to enforce. The policy is not bureaucratic paperwork. It is the mechanism that keeps a sick worker out of the kitchen.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, cited at both Pinolandia and Tacos del Cartel, carries a specific traceability problem. When food enters a facility through channels that bypass federal inspection, there is no record linking that food to a producer, a lot number, or a recall. If a customer becomes ill, investigators have no paper trail to follow. Shellfish are the highest-risk version of this problem because oysters, clams, and mussels are often consumed raw, and shellfish identification records were missing or inadequate at Cambridge Holdco, Pinolandia, and Dunkin Donuts.
Undercooking, cited at Cambridge Holdco and BurgerFi, is one of the most direct pathways to foodborne illness. Salmonella survives in poultry below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Pathogens in ground beef survive below 155 degrees. A food not reaching its required minimum internal temperature is not a procedural technicality. It is a meal that can make someone sick.
The Longer Record
Pinolandia on North Military Trail has the longest inspection history of any facility cited this week, with 56 prior inspections on record. That volume of prior visits makes this week's five high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved source and sewage disposal problems, harder to explain as isolated oversights. A facility that has been inspected 56 times has had 56 opportunities to address structural problems.
Tacos del Cartel on Clematis Street has 35 prior inspections on record. Cambridge Holdco has 27. BurgerFi on Rosemary Avenue has 28. The Courtyard Marriott has 25, and Banyan Golf Club has 24. None of these are new facilities encountering inspectors for the first time.
Dunkin Donuts on Southern Boulevard has the shortest history at 14 prior inspections, which makes the toxic substances citation stand out. A facility early in its inspection record accumulating a chemical storage violation alongside illness reporting failures is not following a reassuring trajectory.
Cambridge Holdco's 27 prior inspections set against 11 high-severity violations in a single visit is the sharpest contrast in this week's data. At 11 high-severity citations, this was not a borderline inspection. The violations spanned management presence, worker illness policy, handwashing, shellfish records, parasite destruction, surface sanitation, and cooking temperature, essentially every checkpoint in the inspection framework, all in one visit.
The Longer Pattern
Seven facilities across West Palm Beach were cited for a combined 30 high-severity violations in a single week. No emergency closures were recorded in the data for this period, meaning all seven remained open through and after their inspections.
Pinolandia's record of 56 prior inspections and this week's sewage disposal citation remains an open question. Whether that infrastructure problem has appeared in earlier inspection reports is not reflected in the data provided here.
