Failure to Store and Maintain Food in Accordance with Professional Standards
Penalty
Summary
During a kitchen observation, surveyors identified that the facility failed to store food and maintain food quality in accordance with professional standards for food safety. Specifically, refrigerator #3 contained a plastic storage container with 14 overly ripe cucumbers that had a white slimy rind, were soft and pliable, and had liquid accumulated at the bottom. In the pantry, there was an opened bottle of yellow mustard past its 'best if used by' date, an opened gallon-sized bottle of soy sauce that was not refrigerated as instructed by the manufacturer, 19 overly ripe oranges with green and white bio-growth on the rind, and an overly ripe apple with a brown soft spot and exposed interior. These findings were acknowledged by the Dietary Manager, who confirmed that she had not examined the produce that day as intended and recognized the risks associated with having overly ripe food in the kitchen. The Dietary Manager stated that it is her responsibility to ensure food is not expired and is stored properly, and the Administrator confirmed that monitoring food supplies for proper storage and spoilage is the DM's responsibility. The facility's policy requires all perishable foods to be maintained at a temperature of 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below, and the manufacturer's instructions for certain items were not followed. The observations and interviews confirmed that the facility did not adhere to its own food storage policies and professional standards, resulting in the presence of spoiled and improperly stored food items in the kitchen.