Failure to Label and Date Stored Food Items
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors observed that the facility failed to ensure proper food storage practices in both the kitchen walk-in freezer and the nourishment room refrigerator. During an initial kitchen tour with the Dietary Manager, a plastic see-through bag containing unidentified food items was found in the walk-in freezer without any label or date. The Dietary Manager confirmed that the item should have been labeled and dated, in accordance with the facility's food storage policy, which requires all frozen foods to be covered, labeled, and dated. Additionally, in the nourishment room refrigerator on Desota Hall, a bag containing wrapped crackers and a bowl of covered food were found without dates. The Dietary Manager again acknowledged that these items should have been dated. The facility's policy for foods brought in by family or visitors also requires perishable foods to be stored in resealable containers with tight-fitting lids, labeled with the resident's name, item name, and a use-by date, with nursing staff responsible for discarding perishable foods on or before the use-by date. These observations indicate that the facility did not follow its own policies and professional standards for food service safety regarding labeling and dating stored food items.