59,573 Violations. 15,400+ Vendors. What the Florida DBPR Data Actually Shows.

We built VMScore on top of the Florida DBPR inspection database. In the process, we analyzed every public inspection record for the state's 15,400+ licensed mobile food vendors: 31,563 inspections, 59,573 documented violations, across all 67 counties.

Here is what the data actually shows.

The Headline Number

About 2 in 3 Florida mobile food vendors carry at least one documented violation in their inspection history. That does not mean 65% of trucks are dangerous. It means the majority have at least one documented instance where an inspector found something wrong. Some are minor paperwork issues. Some are live roach infestations. The record does not distinguish between them unless you read it.

Breaking Down 59,573 Violations

Sanitation: 12,563 violations. The largest single category. This includes everything from unclean food-contact surfaces to pest activity to improper waste disposal. Sanitation violations are the most visible to the public and the most likely to generate complaints.

Administrative: 11,039 violations. Expired permits, missing documentation, failure to display required postings. These are often treated as low-severity, but they signal operational disorganization. A vendor who cannot keep paperwork current may not be keeping food safety protocols current either.

Personnel: 8,018 violations. Food handler certification gaps, improper hygiene practices, failure to wash hands after using the restroom. These are the violations that directly involve the people touching the food your guests eat.

Temperature control: 7,752 violations. Cold food stored too warm. Hot food held too cold. This category correlates most directly with foodborne illness risk. When an inspector finds chicken at 53 degrees in a unit that should hold it at 41, the risk is not theoretical.

Food source and condition: 5,201 violations. Unlabeled food, food from unapproved sources, food that is adulterated or contaminated. These are the violations most likely to trigger a Stop Sale order.

What the Patterns Show

Violations cluster. Vendors with one violation tend to have more. The average vendor with any violation history has 3.8 violations on record. But the top 10% of offenders account for a disproportionate share of the total. These are the vendors where the same issues appear inspection after inspection.

Recurrence matters more than count. A vendor with 2 temperature violations across 2 consecutive inspections is a bigger risk signal than a vendor with 5 administrative violations over 4 years. The data shows that recurring violations in the same category predict future enforcement action better than total violation count alone.

30,554 high-priority violations. More than half of all documented violations are classified as high priority by DBPR. These are not paperwork issues. These are the violations that inspectors flagged as direct risks to public health.

What This Means for You

If you are booking vendors for events and not checking DBPR inspection data, you are not making an informed decision. You are making a guess. And the data says the guess lands on a vendor with violation history about two-thirds of the time.

The records are public. They are available. The question is whether you look at them before booking or find out about them after something happens.

Search any Florida mobile food vendor on VMScore. Full inspection history, risk score, violation breakdown. First report free with code FIRSTFREE. $9.99 per report after that.

Related Resources

Find vendors in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, or any Florida city. Read about what DBPR tracks and why it matters, or see our FAQ for details on how VMScore works.