Here’s why an inspector shut down all food equipment at a Hialeah supermarket
Spotting a lack of basic cleanliness and food safety equipment, state inspectors stopped the use of “all open food processing/dispensing/packing” and “all food equipment and utensils” at a Hialeah supermarket last week.
Those were just two of the five Stop Use Orders dropped on Miri Supermarket, 1574 W. 39th Pl., by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspectors Francis Odio and Caridad Delgado.
Consumer Services inspections of all packaged food sellers, commercial and retail bakeries, food storage facilities and food processors work slightly differently than restaurant inspections, which are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. Failure doesn’t close the establishment, as is the case with restaurants.
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But Agriculture and Consumer Services inspectors do carry the power of Stop Use Orders, which can sideline any piece of equipment or render a physical area useless.
“Open food items were found in the walk-in cooler including raw liver, raw beef strips, raw fish, raw pork shoulder, raw beef ribs and raw bread (ready to bake). There is no handwash sink in any processing area on the premises.” All the food got hit with Stop Sales and the food processing area got a Stop Use Order.
No three-compartment sink — the “triple sink” for washing, rinsing and sanitizing by hand — meant no “proper cleaning of food contact equipment and utensils.” Stop Use on the food contact equipment and utensils.
That includes a band saw with ”old food debris encrusted” and a deli slicer with “old debris and soil build-up behind the blade.”
“No probe thermometer is available for assessing, receiving, and holding temperature control for safety foods. Stop Use Order on food processing.
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Thursday’s inspection, which posted on the department website Tuesday, said the Stop Use Orders on open food processing and equipment would be released once Miri added a three-compartment sink; chemical sanitizer with test strips; a handwash sink with hot and cold running water; and a “thin probe thermometer.”
The other Stop Use Orders came down on the backroom walk-in cooler, the retail area open-air dairy cooler and the retail area open-air meat cooler. Each needs to keep foods at or below 41 degrees, but were in such “disrepair” that they measured 51 degrees (the walk-in cooler), 50 to 55 degrees (dairy) and 52 to 54 degrees (meat).
That’s why packages of raw chicken breast and pork chops in the open air cooler measured 47 to 50 degrees and got smacked with Stop Sales.
Unrelated to the Stop Use Orders, the inspectors saw an “accumulation of black mold-like substances on a retail wall near the produce open-air cooler and around the walk-in coolers.”
“Dead flies were found in the bulk meat reach-in cooler.”
Retail area reach-in coolers and shelves displayed an “accumulation of soil and dust.”
“Rusted shelves were displaying grocery items.”
A food processing area employee “did not wash hands after re-entering the processing area before donning gloves to begin work with open food.”
An “Insect control device (hung) directly above the deli slicer on top of the prep table.”
Nonetheless, “flying insects were observed around all areas” of retail and food processing.
The single-use foam meat trays “were not stored in the original protective packaging or any other means to protect them from contamination before use.”
“Water damage to ceiling tiles, missing ceiling tiles, and missing floor tiles around the whole establishment.”
“Establishment is operating without a valid 2025 food permit.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM.
