DELAND, FL. State inspectors visiting Yumi Kitchen on East International Speedway Boulevard on June 24 found the restaurant was serving food from unapproved or unknown sources, a violation that means there is no way to trace where that food came from if a customer gets sick.
That was one of seven high-severity violations documented in a single inspection. The restaurant was not closed.
What Inspectors Found
The parasite destruction violation is particularly pointed for a kitchen serving fish. When a restaurant does not follow proper freezing or cooking protocols, parasites including Anisakis and tapeworm can survive in fish and reach customers' plates. The failure was documented alongside the unapproved sourcing violation, meaning inspectors found both that the origin of the food was unknown and that the procedures meant to make that food safe were not being followed.
Two violations addressed illness directly. Inspectors cited the restaurant for having no written employee health policy and for employees not reporting symptoms of illness. Together, those two findings describe a workplace where a sick cook has no formal obligation to stay home and no written rule telling them to do so.
Inspectors also documented improper handwashing technique, meaning employees were washing their hands but not doing so correctly. That distinction matters: a worker who attempts to wash their hands but uses the wrong technique can still transfer pathogens to food and surfaces. The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, leaving customers with no way to make an informed choice about dishes that carry inherent risk.
The two intermediate violations involved multi-use utensils that were not properly cleaned and inadequate or improperly maintained toilet facilities.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of no illness reporting policy and employees not reporting symptoms is what public health officials describe as a direct transmission route for Norovirus. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, and the primary vector is a sick food worker handling food without restriction. A written health policy is the first line of defense. Yumi Kitchen did not have one as of June 24.
The unapproved food sourcing violation carries a specific consequence that plays out after the fact. If a customer becomes ill and investigators need to trace the food back to its origin, an unknown source makes that impossible. USDA and FDA inspection systems exist precisely to create that chain of accountability. Food that bypasses those systems bypasses the only mechanism that allows for a recall or a targeted investigation.
The time-as-public-health-control violation means that food was being held in the temperature danger zone, between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, without adequate documentation or procedures to limit how long it stayed there. When time is used as a substitute for temperature control, strict tracking is required. Without it, food that has been in the danger zone long enough to grow dangerous levels of bacteria can be served without anyone knowing.
Improperly cleaned multi-use utensils develop bacterial biofilms within 24 hours. Those biofilms are resistant to standard cleaning and can contaminate every item the utensil subsequently touches.
The Longer Record
The June 2026 inspection was not an outlier. It was the ninth consecutive inspection in which Yumi Kitchen drew at least two high-severity violations, going back to January 2022.
The restaurant has 22 inspections on record and 144 total violations. The most recent prior inspection, in November 2025, produced eight high-severity violations and one intermediate, the highest single-inspection count in the available history. The June 2026 visit, with seven high-severity violations, was the second-highest.
The categories that keep reappearing are the most consequential ones. High-severity violations have shown up in every inspection for which data is available except one, a July 2025 visit that produced a single intermediate citation. That clean inspection sits between a four-high-violation visit in July 2024 and the eight-high-violation inspection in November 2025.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in 22 inspections spanning more than four years.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented seven high-severity violations at Yumi Kitchen on June 24, 2026. The violations included food from an unknown source, failed parasite destruction procedures, no illness reporting policy, employees not reporting symptoms, improper handwashing technique, misuse of time as a public health control, and no advisory for customers ordering raw or undercooked food.
The restaurant remained open.
