Failure to Date Opened Food and Remove Expired Items in Kitchen
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors observed multiple failures in food safety practices within the facility's kitchen. In the dry food storage room, there were opened containers of cereal that were not dated when opened. In the walk-in refrigerator, a carton of supplement and a package of shredded mozzarella cheese were found past their use-by and best-by dates, respectively. The mozzarella cheese had also physically deteriorated, condensing into quarter-sized balls. These observations indicate that food items were not consistently dated upon opening and expired items were not removed from inventory as required. During an interview, the dietary manager was unaware of the unmarked and outdated food items. He stated that it was his expectation for staff to date containers when opened and to use or discard food before expiration. The facility's policies require regular inspection of food products, proper labeling and dating of opened items, and adherence to FIFO (First In First Out) procedures. However, these policies were not followed, resulting in the presence of undated and expired food in storage areas.