Failure to Follow Hand Hygiene and Food Safety Practices During Meal Service
Penalty
Summary
Staff failed to follow standard food safety practices during multiple observed meal services in two of three neighborhood dining rooms. Specifically, servers and certified medication aides (CMAs) did not consistently perform hand hygiene or use gloves appropriately while handling food and serving residents. Observations included staff touching their hair, face, uniforms, and other non-food surfaces, then handling food or serving utensils without washing their hands. Additionally, some staff did not wear required hairnets, and food items such as bread and pastries were left uncovered and accessible to both staff and residents, with instances of residents touching multiple food items before they were served to others. The facility's own policies required hand hygiene before clean procedures, after glove removal, and when handling ready-to-eat foods, as well as the use of hairnets in the kitchen. Despite these policies, staff were observed repeatedly failing to wash hands after removing gloves, after touching potentially contaminated surfaces, and before handling food. Interviews with staff confirmed a lack of awareness regarding proper hand hygiene and food handling protocols, contributing to the observed deficiencies.