Deficient Food Storage and Kitchen Sanitation Practices
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified multiple deficiencies in the facility's food storage, preparation, and kitchen sanitation practices. During an inspection of the kitchen's dry storage, refrigerator, and freezer areas, several food items were found in unsealed packages and containers, including taco seasoning mix, cream cheese icing, chocolate fudge icing, noodles, tri-color pasta, apple sauce, American cheese, ketchup, soy milk, vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice creams, wonton strips, and croissants. Additionally, an expired can of artificially flavored strawberry dessert topping and two dented cans (pineapples and mandarin oranges) were found stored with other canned foods. These items were not properly sealed, labeled, or removed according to professional standards and the facility's own food storage policy. Further observations revealed that six A/C vents in the kitchen had a black substance on them, with two vents located directly above the food preparation table. The vents were found to have dust, dirt, and grease buildup, and there was no specific facility policy for cleaning A/C vents in the kitchen. The maintenance supervisor confirmed that the vents were unclean and that the facility relied on a maintenance management software for logging requests, but did not maintain a physical maintenance log or a specific cleaning schedule for the vents. Interviews with dietary staff indicated a lack of awareness regarding the presence of expired, unsealed, and dented food items in the kitchen. Both the newly hired dietary staff member and a dietary aide with five years of experience stated that all staff were responsible for checking and storing food items properly, but neither was aware of the deficiencies until informed by surveyors. The facility's food storage policy required open packages to be stored in sealed containers and expired or spoiled foods to be discarded, but these procedures were not consistently followed, as evidenced by the survey findings.