LAKE MARY, FL. Inspectors walked into Zacapa Mexican Restaurant & Bar at 7025 County Road 46A on July 22 and found food from an unapproved or unknown source being used in the kitchen, a violation that means no government inspector ever cleared that food for safety before it reached a customer's plate.
That was one of six high-severity violations documented that day. The restaurant remained open.
What Inspectors Found
The food-sourcing violation is among the most serious an inspector can write. When food enters a restaurant from an unapproved or unidentified supplier, it has bypassed USDA and FDA safety inspections entirely. If a customer gets sick, there is no supply chain to trace, no lot number to pull, no farm or processor to notify.
Inspectors also cited employees for not reporting symptoms of illness. That violation matters because a single food worker with norovirus or Salmonella who does not disclose their condition can infect dozens of customers before anyone realizes an outbreak has begun.
The improper handwashing citation compounds that risk. Inspectors do not write that violation when employees skip the sink entirely. They write it when employees go through the motions but use a technique that leaves pathogens on their hands regardless.
Toxic substances were also found improperly identified, stored, or used. That violation covers chemicals such as cleaning agents and sanitizers stored near food, mislabeled containers, or products applied incorrectly in areas where food is prepared.
The restaurant was also cited for serving raw or undercooked menu items without a consumer advisory posted for customers. Pregnant women, elderly diners, and anyone with a compromised immune system are entitled to that warning before they order.
Rounding out the high-severity list: no person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties at the time of inspection.
The one intermediate violation involved multi-use utensils not properly cleaned, a condition that allows bacterial biofilms to form on surfaces that touch food repeatedly throughout a service.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of violations documented on July 22 represents a failure at nearly every layer of food safety a restaurant is supposed to maintain. Food of unknown origin means the foundation of the supply chain is missing. Employees not reporting illness means the first human checkpoint is also gone. Improper handwashing technique means the most basic physical barrier against contamination was not functioning.
These three violations together create the conditions most commonly associated with multi-victim outbreaks. The CDC has linked establishments without active managerial control to three times the rate of critical violations compared to those with a manager actively overseeing food safety. At Zacapa on July 22, no such person was documented as present.
The toxic substances violation adds a separate and immediate risk. A mislabeled chemical container or a sanitizer stored next to food preparation surfaces can cause chemical contamination that has nothing to do with bacterial illness but can send customers to an emergency room the same day they dine.
The missing consumer advisory is a narrower but real danger for specific populations. A customer who is pregnant or undergoing chemotherapy and orders a dish with raw or undercooked protein deserves the information to make that choice knowingly. Without the advisory posted, they do not have it.
The Longer Record
The July 22 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Zacapa has been inspected 12 times and has accumulated 64 total violations across that history.
The pattern of high-severity citations goes back to at least March 2023, when inspectors documented six high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. That exact count, six high-severity and two intermediate, appeared again in January 2024. The December 2025 inspection produced four high-severity violations. July 2025 produced one. January 2025 produced a clean inspection, followed six days later by two high-severity violations in a return visit.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed.
The July 22 inspection matches the two worst single-day tallies in the facility's documented history, tied with the March 2023 and January 2024 inspections. The difference is that those earlier inspections came with fewer accumulated records behind them. This one comes after three and a half years of documented high-severity violations at the same address.
Open for Business
State inspectors left Zacapa Mexican Restaurant & Bar on July 22 having documented food from an unapproved source, employees not reporting illness, improper handwashing, improperly stored toxic substances, no consumer advisory for raw foods, no person in charge, and unclean utensils.
The restaurant stayed open.
