Latest local restaurants inspections

The Florida Department of Health releases its inspection reports for Charlotte, DeSoto and Sarasota counties each week, highlighting the restaurants with the most violations in the past 30 days.

Violations range from basic to intermediate to high-priority, with each based on the level of immediate threat to diners’ safety, according to state inspection criteria.

High-priority: Could contribute directly to a food-borne illness or injury.

Examples: Handwashing, correct heating/cooling temperatures, separation of raw animal foods, missing vacuum breaker (to prevent backflow), evidence of pests and live roaches.

Intermediate: If not addressed, could lead to risk factors that contribute to food-borne illness or injury.

Examples: Personnel training, documentation, record keeping and labeling, ice machine mold and stained cutting boards.

Basic: Best practices to implement.

Examples: Broken ceiling tiles, soiled floor, open dumpster lid, gouged cutting boards, hair not restrained during food preparation and dead roaches.

For Charlotte County, 1 out of 27 restaurants did not pass the first inspection. Of those, one was in violation of “misbranding” and “misrepresentation” of menu items for customers.

For DeSoto County, 1 out of 2 restaurants did not pass the first inspection.

For Sarasota County, 28 out of 121 restaurants did not pass the first inspection. Of those, one was given an ordered callback inspection after a receiving a high-priority violation due to more than 30 “flying insects.”

Here are the restaurants that had 10 or more violations after their inspection.

Sarasota County (Sarasota, Nokomis)

CAPTAIN EDDIE’S SEAFOOD, 107 Colonia Lane E., Nokomis

Three high-priority violations, four intermediate violation and seven basic violations found during July 1 inspection.Report states facility was mostly in violation of cross-contamination with chemicals near the cook line, food and utensils.

THE ITALIAN GRILL, 8620 S Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Three high-priority violations, one intermediate violations and six basic violations found during July 2 inspection.Violations were given for time and temperature control hazards and lack of management certification and employee training verification.

Charlotte County (Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda)

88 KEYS FLORIDA, 101 E Retta Esplanade, Punta Gorda

One high-priority violation, six intermediate violations and three basic violations were found during July 8 inspection.Report states raw food found in contamination with ready-to-eat food and food-contact surfaces found with mold-like substances.

STEAK-N-SHAKE, 1080 El Jobean Road, Port Charlotte

Two high-priority violations, two intermediate violations and 13 basic violations were found during July 11 inspection.Report states multiple employees were observed not washing hands before handling food, and food-contact surfaces had day-old food debris.