Rodents here (again), no sanitizer there: Miami and Hialeah bakery problems
State inspectors found no soap for handwashing, lack of FDA registration and other problems this week at bakeries in Miami and Hialeah.
These aren’t the Don Pans or Diana Bakeries, retail bakeries that make what they sell. Both of these bakeries are classified as “wholesale bakeries,” the kind that make pastelitos and other baked goods sold in gas stations, some supermarkets, bodegas and food stands around South Florida.
Bakery inspections are done by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
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El Goyito Sweet, 642 W. 84th St., Hialeah
The sign outside 642 W. 84th St., a part of a half-block long commercial building, says “Primitive Nutrition Group.” State corporation records say that’s accurate, but records in two state agencies — as well as the sight of people packing pastelitos in the large room behind the front office — say this is also where to find wholesale bakery El Goyito Sweet.
There’s no indication of that outside, perhaps because, as Inspector Fausto Ferrer noted, El Goyito’s food permit has been expired so long, that it “owes two years of permitting fees.”
Also, Ferrer noted, El Goyito “does not appear to be registered with FDA.”
The flouting of basic rules didn’t stop there. Ferrer said, El Goyito employees “have not been trained in the principles of food safety and food hygiene or their assigned duties.”
Ferrer provided evidence of that when he saw a man “enter the processing area from the office area, where he was handling non-food related letters, and not change gloves or wash his hands before starting the task of mixing ingredients for the Cuban Rosquillas.”
As for hand washing, the restroom handwash sink didn’t have soap or paper towels, and the one near ready-to-eat bakery products didn’t have paper towels, soap or hand sanitizer.
Water leaked under the employee restroom handwash sink.
Someone was “using a basting brush that is not food grade. The brush has a metal band.”
Also, not food grade material: orange Home Depot buckets. That’s what El Goyito used “to store flour, Guava paste, dough and other raw materials used in the manufacturing of bakery products.”
The processing room lights were too dim to “conduct processing and the washing and maintenance of food equipment.”
The Hobart dough mixers and the wall behind the mixers were “encrusted with dried up dough. The owner (Michael Deulofeu) stated the person who cleans (the mixer) did not do so the day before.”
Also, El Goyito didn’t have “any type of sanitizer available to adequately sanitize equipment.”
“Encrusted dried up dough and chocolate like substance” decorated the cooler door.
Through an interpreter, Deulofeu said all the issues would be taken care of by the May 5 re-inspection. When asked what retailers his wholesale bakery supplied, Deulofeu shook the Miami Herald reporter’s hand and ended the conversation.
Victoria Bakery, 1130 W. Flagler St., Miami
Once again, we must say this Little Havana bakery at 1130 W. Flagler St. is NOT a Vicky Bakery or related to that local chain.
Under Ag Department records, this is “Victoria Bekery,” but state corporation records correctly spell it “Victoria Bakery and Restaurant.” It’s run by President Berta Martinez and Vice President Jeffry Wolmart, although only Martinez was around for this place’s previous inspection troubles.
Give Victoria Bakery credit for making progress on its rodent issues. A rodent hot-footed it across a grill during a November 2022 inspection of the restaurant side by the Florida Department of Professional Regulation. Later that month, Ag Department inspectors saw a live rodent in a glue trap.
Tuesday, the rodent was dead and “on the floor next to the fryer...according to the person in charge the pest control company serviced a month ago.”
Though dead instead of alive, that furry corpse still caused Inspector Araceli Harvie (one of the inspectors in 2022) to smite the “processing equipment and processing area” with a Stop-Use Order.
READ MORE: Rodent dumped on pet food shelves at a Fort Lauderdale Family Dollar
Despite a rodent issue in the processing area, Victoria Bakery still had “an opened bag of sugar stored directly on the floor in the processing area.”
An entrance for the dead rodent could’ve been “a large opening in the floor where the three-compartment sink and mop sink drain.”
A half mile from loanDepot Park, home of the Marlins, the handwash sink in the processing area did a reverse hit for the cycle. It missed for the cycle — no hot water, soap, paper towels or hand sanitizer.
“Employees are not trained in the principles of food safety and personal hygiene. As evidenced, employee was packing ready-to-eat bread and the handwash sink had no water, soap, and hand sanitizer.
“According to the employee, she finished the soap earlier today.”
The prep table’s “stainless steel laminate is not smoothly bonded. It has screws with an accumulation of food residue. Also, the wood table has cracks with food residue in them.”
An accumulation of grease marred the “floor around the fryer, rolling racks for bread cooling, and the side of the fryer.” The mixer’s base was “soiled with encrusted dough residue.”
The cheese break has yeast in it. The ingredients label doesn’t tell you that.
Like El Goyito, Victoria Bakery wasn’t registered as a food facility with the FDA.
Inspector Harvie lifted the Stop-Use Order on Thursday.
This story was originally published April 27, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
