Failure to Label, Date, and Properly Store Food and Drink in Nourishment Room Refrigerators
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors observed that the facility failed to properly label, date, and discard food and drink items in two nourishment room refrigerators. In the 100-hall nourishment refrigerator, an open energy drink can with a straw and some liquid inside was found without a label or date. In the 200-hall nourishment refrigerator, two pizza boxes containing leftover pizza were also found without labels or dates. The Dietary Manager confirmed that nursing staff were responsible for labeling and dating food items before placing them in the refrigerators. The Director of Nursing and the facility Administrator both stated that staff should have labeled and dated the food items and that opened drinks should not have been stored in the refrigerator. These observations indicate that the facility did not follow its own procedures or professional standards for food storage, as required, leading to the cited deficiency.