Failure to Follow Food Safety and Sanitation Standards
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to store, prepare, distribute, and serve food in accordance with professional standards for food service safety, as evidenced by multiple observations of improper food storage and handling practices. Surveyors found several food items, such as English muffin breakfast sandwiches and a bag of chicken breast, stored in the refrigerator and cooler without proper labeling or dating. Despite posted instructions to date foods removed from the freezer, staff were unaware of or did not follow these procedures. Additionally, staff could not account for certain food items found in storage, indicating a lack of oversight and adherence to food storage policies. Numerous instances of improper hand hygiene and glove use were observed among kitchen staff and aides. Staff were seen washing their hands for less than the required time, turning off faucets with bare hands, and failing to perform hand hygiene after tasks that could contaminate their hands, such as handling soiled items or touching their face. Staff also repeatedly used the same gloves for multiple tasks, including serving food, preparing meals, and delivering trays, without changing gloves or washing hands between tasks. In some cases, staff placed used gloves on clean prep surfaces, further increasing the risk of cross-contamination. Additional deficiencies included staff not wearing required beard nets while preparing food, despite having visible facial hair, and a lack of posted hand washing instructions at the kitchen sink. The facility's own policies required proper hand washing, glove use, and beard net use, but these were not consistently followed. The dietary manager acknowledged that staff did not change gloves or perform hand hygiene as often as required and was unable to recite the correct hand washing procedure. These failures in food safety and sanitation practices had the potential to affect all residents in the facility.