Unsanitary Kitchen Conditions and Improper Food Storage
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified a deficiency in the facility’s failure to store, prepare, distribute, and serve food under sanitary conditions for all residents receiving meals from the main kitchen. During an initial kitchen tour, surveyors observed multiple sanitation issues in the food preparation area, including walls throughout the kitchen, behind the handwashing station, and around the refrigerator with dime-sized brown and yellow streaks and splatters. The dishwasher plate racks were heavily soiled with black embedded residue that could not be wiped or scraped off, and several racks had gummy blackish buildup of unknown matter in the drainage crevices. The drying rack contained multiple food storage bins and pans stacked on top of each other, trapping moisture between the stacked items on the clean drying rack, contrary to requirements for proper air-drying. Additional observations showed food debris and heavy grease accumulation around the range stove and burner brackets, as well as several coffee tins containing grease left uncovered and stored under a kitchen sink in the food preparation area. Debris and small piles of dust had accumulated along ceiling pipes, along baseboards, and on the sides and behind the ice machine. These conditions conflicted with professional standards and the facility’s own kitchen cleaning policy, which required cleaning before, during, and after food preparation, and mandated that each user properly clean and sanitize the kitchen after their shift and ensure floors were swept and cleaned at the end of the shift. Surveyors also found failures related to proper labeling and storage of perishable foods. In the dry storage and refrigerated food areas, they observed a bag of cabbage with browning and pooling liquid inside the bag, indicating spoilage, and chocolate milk stored in the refrigerator that was labeled with an expiration date that had already passed. These findings were inconsistent with state retail food regulations and the facility’s food storage policy, which required all products to be dated when received and when opened, adherence to use-by or expiration dates, and labeling of foods removed from their original containers with the common name of the food.
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