A Miami 7-Eleven had to toss croquetas and pastelitos. Don’t blame the ants
State inspectors didn’t find a Big Gulp of violations at a Miami 7-Eleven last week, but found enough that they’ll be back after the corporate-owned store failed inspection.
You can still get Slurpees and various forms of gas at 4501 NW Seventh St., which will remain open despite the “Re-Inspection Required” inspection result from Tuesday.
Food sellers, manufacturers and storage facilities inspected by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services can fail inspection and remain open, unlike restaurants failing Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation inspection.
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Here’s some of what state inspectors Amber Ruckdeschel and Luis Lopez found on Tuesday:
“Ants crawling on the exterior of the bakery case holding doughnuts and cookies.”
The “tongs used for self-service roller grill items (hot dogs and taquitos) and the retail hot holding items (taquenos, pan bono, cachitos) were not washed, rinsed, and sanitized after more than four hours of use.”
They’d need to pick up a test kit because there wasn’t one to measure the sanitizer concentration at the ware washing sink.
Speaking of washing, some of the employees didn’t wash their hands before prepping chicken wings for customers or when entering the food-service area before handling clean utensils and preparing food.
The backroom handwash sink didn’t have a paper towel of mechanical hand dryer.
Some food employees were “not wearing hair or beard restraints while heating up chicken wings and potato tots for customers.”
Under the Slurpee and soda machines, the inspectors saw a “heavy accumulation of liquid residue on the bottom shelves.”
Wet wiping cloths sitting next to a handwash sink needed to be in a bucket of sanitizer solution when not being used to wipe.
The cod fish croquetas, beef pastelitos, and guava and cheese pastelitos in the hot box all measured at least 10 degrees under the required 135 degrees for safe hot storage. Each got hit with a stop sale and thrown in the garbage.
“The wooden knock board used to knock out coffee grounds was found stored directly in the trash can where all trash is discarded, not just used coffee.” Also, someone threw out used coffee grounds by “tapping into the knock board located inside the trashcan.”
Yes, these standard acts you typically find at Miami and Pembroke Pines cafe cubano stations are violations.
This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 11:32 AM.