Improper Food Storage and Unsanitary Handling of Ready-to-Eat Items
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified deficiencies in the facility’s food storage and handling practices based on observations and staff interviews. During a kitchen tour, a container of soft strawberries with fuzzy white substances was found in the front kitchen refrigerator where fresh produce and snacks were stored. The Food Service Manager stated that staff relied on visual inspection to determine spoilage and acknowledged that the strawberries should have been discarded, indicating that spoiled produce had not been removed from an area used for resident food items. During a tray line observation, a staff member preparing resident meal trays was seen handling ready-to-eat foods without maintaining proper hand hygiene or glove use. The staff member left the workstation to obtain sorbet, then returned and immediately picked up a dinner roll with the same gloved hand without performing hand hygiene or changing gloves. Later, the same staff member opened a refrigerator door with a gloved hand, retrieved a bowl of fresh fruit, and then handled another dinner roll with that same glove. The Food Service Manager stated she was not concerned about the staff member touching other surfaces while handling ready-to-eat food, though she acknowledged that touching additional surfaces increases the risk for cross-contamination.
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