Deficient Food Handling and Sanitation Practices Identified
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that food was prepared, stored, and served in a sanitary manner according to professional standards. During an initial kitchen tour, raw shell eggs were found stored directly above liquid pasteurized eggs in the walk-in cooler, creating a risk of cross-contamination. Additionally, cleaned and sanitized utensils were not stored inverted as required. These issues were acknowledged by the Certified Dietary Manager (CDM) at the time of observation. Further observations revealed that staff did not consistently perform proper hand hygiene before donning gloves, as required by facility policy. One cook was observed taking gloves without washing hands before returning to food service, and a dietary aide also failed to perform hand hygiene after leaving and re-entering the food preparation area before handling gloves and parchment paper. The kitchen also contained several chipped plates that could potentially cause skin tears, and a knife used for food preparation was only rinsed, not properly cleaned and sanitized, before being placed back on a magnetic strip. These deficiencies were acknowledged by the CDM and the staff involved.