Rodents leaving their waste all over a Hollywood wholesale maker of empanadas, tequeños, pan de bono and Gustitos brand products got fined by the state in December.
South Florida Food, 5801 Wiley St. in Hollywood, got hit with a $1,500 fine by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in addition to a $135 re-inspection fee. Showing the pace of financial punishment, the final order on the fine came down on Dec. 3, 2025, exactly one year after the second of the two inspections that earned that fine.
According to that final order, an Aug. 27, 2024, inspection that the FDACS did for the FDA uncovered enough violations to get a “Re-inspection Required” result, the worst possible for inspections of grocers, food processors, food-storage facilities and bakeries. After South Florida Food passed the Sept. 11 inspection, it failed the Dec. 3, 2024, inspection as rodent droppings were spotted in several places.
On a shelf with 50-pound bags of Ardent Mills Hotel & Restaurant All Purpose Flour, United Fine Granulated Sugar and Torino Long Grain rice.
On top of two water fountains.
On the floor under a storage rack.
In a corner by a rolling bay door through which products are received
By the entrance of the retail production room.
Because this inspection happened within three years of the August inspection, it put South Florida Food in position to be fined.
South Florida Food remains under the management of Julian Cerri and Maria Julieta Lignini, who registered South Florida Food in state corporate records on March 19, 2015.
South Florida Food, 5801 Wiley St., Hollywood Broward County Property Appraiser
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
Rodents on a prep table, roaches running and flies on food went a long way toward six South Florida restaurants failing state inspection and making this week’s Sick and Shut Down List.
Inspections are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, either on rotation or by customer complaint to the agency. We merely report the results. Restaurants reopen after passing re-inspection, the first of which usually occurs the next day.
In alphabetical order:
Bond Street Ale & Coffee, 1626 S. Federal Hwy., Boynton Beach
Complaint inspection, 12 total violations, eight High Priority violations
A fly on the wall near the three-compartment sink? Problem. Two flies on a rack with dirty dishes? Problem. Fly sitting on a Dutch apple pie? Stop Sale on the pie.
Stop Sales also crashed down on sausage and home fries that were left on the grill to cool down from 135 degrees to 70 degrees within two hours. But after 2 1/2 hours, they still measured 98 degrees.
An “employee touched her bare body part, her mouth, while eating, then started handling utensils on the grill without washing her hands.”
Standing water covered the bottom of a bar area glass door reach-in cooler.
Charleys Philly Steaks in the Broward Mall, 8000 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation
Complaint inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations
Roach problems were the main reason this Broward Mall tenant got shut down for a day last week.
How Ya Doughin, 8240 S. State Rd. 7, Unincorporated Palm Beach County
Routine inspection, two total violations, two High Priority violations
An expired license alone isn’t enough to get shut down for the day.
But when the inspector counts 36 flies on dining room seats and walls, a fly on a pan of cookies, another on a seasoning shaker, seven flies on a dish rack, five flies on pizza boxes and 22 flies elsewhere, you’re going to get put in inspection timeout.
Los Catrachos, 4663 Lake Worth Rd., Greenacres
Routine inspection, four total violations, three High Priority violations
Los Catrachos made this list in October with live roaches, dead roaches and a dishwasher that could wash but not sanitize.
This time, there were only three live roaches in a bucket in front of a food prep table and seven dead roaches elsewhere, including two on a lid to a cinnamon bucket.
A monsoon of Stop Sales for temperature abuse — food in cold storage not being at or under 41 degrees — came down on diced tomatoes, cut lettuce, cheese, raw beef, raw chicken, cooked beans, raw chicken, cut cabbage, milk, raw steak and raw fish.
Mi Tierra Food Truck, food truck, Palm Beach County
Routine inspection, three total violations, two High Priority violations
Six live roaches were in dry seasoning cabinets. Seven roaches played on a storage rack with single-service items. One was on top of paper liners. One live roach hung out on a takeout box. Another was on the door to a reach-in cooler. And 16 live roaches were elsewhere.
Mi Tierra’s food truck “has a water line hooked up to a great water tank to dump waste water into nearby mulch.” The inspector told the food truck operator to yank the hose and “properly dispose of the water.”
On the first re-inspection, the inspector saw “two live roaches inside the pizza oven where breads are being stored on the cookline.”
The second re-inspection got ruined by “one live roach on the floor in front of the flat top grill” and “one live roach inside the oven of a stove top unit, where clean pots are stored.”
The truck rolled again after passing the third callback inspection on Tuesday.
Saveur Tropical Restaurant, 515 NE 24th St., Pompano Beach
Routine inspection, eight total violations, four High Priority violations
Next to on top of food, the last place you want to see 20 rodent droppings is where the inspector saw them — on a kitchen food prep table. Fifty more poop pieces were “on container lids on the prep table’s bottom shelf.”
“Three live roaches in a can opener holder at the food prep table.”
The hot water at the kitchen handwash sink wasn’t hot enough, 78 degrees, when it needed to be 85.
There were “cooked noodles in direct contact with a plastic ‘Thank You’ bag in a three-door reach-in cooler.”
The re-inspection managed to be worse. In addition to 30 rodent droppings behind a storage-area chest freezer, the inspector saw “three dead rodents in a compartment with a motor at the single-door kitchen reach-in cooler.”
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
A South Lake Tahoe resident has tested positive for the plague — yes, the same pest-transmitted disease estimated to have killed 25 million Europeans in the Middle Ages.
It is believed that the person contracted the rare and dangerous disease after being bitten by an infected flea while camping in the South Lake Tahoe area, according to El Dorado County health officials. The patient is under the care of a medical professional and recovering at home, health officials said.
“Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher-elevation areas of El Dorado County,” Kyle Fliflet, the county’s acting director of public health, said in a statement. “It’s important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and/or camping in areas where wild rodents are present.”
Plague is a very serious disease but can be treated with easily available antibiotics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The sooner a patient is diagnosed and receives treatment, the greater their chances of making a full recovery, according to the CDC.
The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is most commonly spread to humans by bites from infected fleas, according to El Dorado County health officials. The disease can also be spread by infected-rodent bites or by exposure to infected dogs and cats.
The disease is extremely uncommon and infects on average seven people in the U.S. per year, according to the CDC. Nevertheless, it must be taken seriously because of the high potential for death if left untreated.
The last plague case reported in El Dorado County was in 2020 and was also believed to be transmitted in the South Lake Tahoe area, health officials said. Two California plague cases were reported in 2015, probably caused by bites from an infected flea or rodent in Yosemite National Park. All three patients received treatment and made a full recovery, health officials said.
There were 45 ground squirrels or chipmunks recorded with evidence of exposure to the plague bacterium in the Lake Tahoe Basin from 2021 to the present, according to the California Department of Public Health, which routinely monitors rodent populations for plague activity across the state.
El Dorado County health officials urged residents and visitors to take steps to avoid exposure to rodents or ticks when exploring the wilderness around Lake Tahoe. Measures include wearing long pants tucked into boots, using a bug repellent with DEET, never feeding or touching rodents, refraining from camping near animal burrows or dead rodents, and leaving dogs at home when possible.
More than 80% of plague cases in the U.S. have been in the bubonic form, from which patients will develop swollen, painful lymph nodes called buboes, according to the CDC. This form of the disease typically results from an infected-flea bite, and symptoms such as buboes, fever, headache, chills and weakness develop within two to eight days, according to the CDC.
In July, an Arizona resident died of the pneumonic form of the plague, which can develop when bacteria spread to the lungs of a patient with untreated bubonic plague. This is the most serious form of the plague and can have an incubation period of just one day. It’s also the only form of the plague that can spread from human to human.
During the Middle Ages, infected rats were to blame for the Black Death in Europe in the 14th century. The last urban rat-infected plague outbreak in America took place in Los Angeles in 1924 and 1925, according to the CDC.
Wildlife advocates are hailing the passage of Assembly Bill 1322, which expands a moratorium on rat poison, as a win for mountain lions, coyotes and other animals that live in and around urban areas across California.
The new law, also known as the California Ecosystems Protections Act of 2023, will place a moratorium on diphacinone, a first-generation anticoagulant rat poison, developed before 1970. The law will take effect Jan. 1.
Mountain lions, coyotes and other animals are often the unintended victims of the poison when they eat smaller animals, like squirrels, possum or raccoons that have consumed the rat poison. Diphacinone is often used to kill rats, squirrels and other rodents.
The new legislation is an expansion of a similar bill passed in 2020, which placed a moratorium on second-generation rodenticides, those developed after 1970.
Los Angeles’ beloved mountain lion P-22, which was euthanized last year after suffering a number of health issues and injuries after the animal was hit by a car, was exposed to rat poison in 2014 and was suffering from mange, a parasitic infection. The mountain lion’s illness spurred action in the California Legislature that led to the first moratorium on rat poison in 2020.
Despite the 2020 legislation, the Center for Biological Diversity said that “wildlife continues to be exposed to rodenticide and suffer from illnesses and death due to unintended poisoning.”
Diphacinone has been prevalent for so long because “it kills, not just rodents, but larger animals up the food chain,” said Tony Tucci co-founder of Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that works to restore the habitat of wildlife.
“This bill not only had strong support in the state Legislature, it also had support from local municipalities like Los Angeles County, and we are thrilled that policymakers are understanding that poisoning the predators of rodents through secondary exposure is counterproductive, killing nature’s predators in the wild will ultimately result in more rodents,” Tucci said.
Los Angeles County approved a motion earlier this year asking the state of California to ban first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides.
Rat poisoning products are readily available on the consumer market as ready-to-bait stations that contain that contain rodenticides, including diphacinone, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Poison Free Malibu, a wildlife-protection activist group, was pleased by the passage of Assembly Bill 1322 but said there is still work to be done on other pesticides.
“We are still concerned about other poisons, which are coming to the fore now that the anticoagulants are being restricted,” said Kian and Joel Schulman, founding members of the group.
They suggest using alternative solutions to rid pests, such as trash control, sanitation and making sure buildings are properly sealed to prevent rodents from entering.
