Multiple Food Safety and Sanitation Deficiencies Identified in Dietary Services
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that food was prepared, stored, served, and distributed in accordance with professional standards, as evidenced by multiple observations and interviews. The ice machine was found to have a white chalky calcium deposit and significant black gelatinous substances on its mechanical and evaporator parts, indicating it had not been properly cleaned and sanitized according to the manufacturer's instructions and facility policy. The maintenance supervisor confirmed the presence of these substances and acknowledged the need for cleaning. Additionally, the facility's cleaning log did not have a current date for the last deep cleaning, and the registered dietitian confirmed that the ice machine was expected to be cleaned monthly. In the kitchen, pans were observed stacked while still wet and with food debris present, and opened packaged food products in both the refrigerator and freezer were not properly labeled or dated. Bread items labeled as 'keep frozen' were found defrosting in dry storage, and produce such as onions were found to be spoiled. Personal belongings were stored in the dry storage area alongside food items, contrary to facility policy. Staff were observed not following proper hygiene protocols, including a dietary aide using a mask instead of a beard net, and two cooks failing to perform handwashing before handling clean dishes. Two dietary aides were unable to correctly verbalize the manual dishwashing process, including the required immersion time for sanitizing dishes. In the resident food refrigerator, expired food items and items without proper labeling, such as resident names and received dates, were found. The infection preventionist confirmed these findings and stated that food should be labeled and discarded according to policy. These deficiencies were observed to have the potential to cause food-borne illness among all residents who consumed food from the facility kitchen or brought in from outside, with a census of 47 residents at the time of the survey.