The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees food sellers, inspected the hotel Wednesday and found violations such as open food stored in unclean places, employees handling food with bare hands, lack of handwashing and dirty conditions, the inspection report showed.
Inspectors found a dozen critical food-safety violations this week in the restaurant of the NFL’s headquarters hotel, where 25 league employees here for Super Bowl XLIV got sick from a stomach bug.
The oceanfront Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale also had failed a restaurant inspection in September, and let its license expire in December by not paying a $457 renewal fee, state officials said Friday.
Health officials were quick to say they did not yet know what caused the outbreak, how the guests got it or whether the hotel bore any blame. Samples were still being tested.
