Busch Gardens theme park restaurant shut down over live cockroaches, worker put arms ‘5 inches past gloves’ in coleslaw

  • Busch Gardens Tampa Bay restaurant Dragon Fire Grill was abruptly closed after an inspection.
  • A Florida agency found live cockroaches and an employee whose arms were submerged in coleslaw.
  • The report noted that roaches were found “under dessert reach in cooler at front cooks line.”

A restaurant inside the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay theme park was abruptly shut down earlier this month, after an inspection reportedly found live and dead cockroaches on the premises, employees touching food with bare hands, and another worker whose hands were submerged in a container of coleslaw “5 inches past gloves.”

In a new report published by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation and reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, the park’s Dragon Fire Grill restaurant was ordered to be temporarily closed on Aug. 7 upon an investigation that led to 14 violations of the state’s sanitation and safety laws.

The DBPR’s report said investigators found “roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found” at the restaurant, including “1 live roach on floor at dessert reach in cooler at front cooks line. 2 live roach under dessert reach in cooler at front cooks line. 1 live roach on top of dessert reach in cooler at front cooks line. 1 live roach under rice steam well on front cooks line,” and “1 roach egg sac under rice steam well on front cooks line,” per their published findings.

Among other alleged violations listed by the DBPR are claims of multiple dead roaches in the kitchen area, including “dead roaches on premises,” with one being found near the dessert reach in a cooler, one on the floor near the same section, and a dead roach under a rice preparation area…

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