Failure to Properly Store, Label, and Separate Food Items
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors observed multiple failures in food storage and labeling practices within the facility's kitchen and resident pantries. In the main kitchen refrigerator, hamburger patties, hot dogs, and breaded chicken tenders were found in open, undated containers. The kitchen pantry contained rice and sugar stored in large, open, and undated bags. These practices were not in accordance with the facility's policies, which require food to be stored in a manner that maintains quality and safety, including proper labeling and dating. Further inspection of the nutrition pantries on both the North and South units revealed additional deficiencies. Resident refrigerators contained food items such as bean dip, pineapple chunks, green grapes, watermelon, deli meat, and iced tea that were either undated, unlabeled, or not identified with a resident's name. Staff food items were also found stored alongside resident food in these refrigerators. The Dietary Manager confirmed these findings, acknowledging that food products were not being properly checked for expiration, labeled, or separated as required by facility policy.