F0812

E

Expired and Unlabeled Food Items in Storage, Cooler, and Nourishment Rooms

Salisbury, North Carolina Survey Completed on 01-02-2026

Penalty

Fine: $20,385

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure food was procured, stored, and maintained in accordance with professional standards, including removal of expired and improperly stored items. In the dry goods storage room, surveyors observed multiple expired products, including thickened orange juice cups, animal crackers, ground coffee packets, and vegetable soup base. There were also numerous single-use salad dressing packets stored in bins that were either mislabeled or unlabeled, with no way to determine their expiration dates because the original boxes had been discarded. Additionally, a case of dented canned vegetables was stored on a regular shelf with other canned goods instead of in the designated area for dented items, despite posted signage instructing staff not to use dented items and to store them separately for return or credit. The Dietary Manager acknowledged responsibility for inspecting storage areas and checking for expired items but reported having no designated schedule for these checks.

In the walk-in cooler, surveyors found three containers of chicken salad that were past the manufacturer’s expiration dates, including two full 5-pound containers and one half-full 5-pound container. These items remained in the cooler instead of being discarded or otherwise removed from circulation. The Dietary Manager stated that his standard practice was to dispose of expired cold foods in the garbage, indicating that the presence of these expired items in the cooler was inconsistent with his stated practice. This demonstrated a failure to consistently monitor and remove expired refrigerated food items intended for resident use.

In the nourishment rooms on the 100 and 200 halls, surveyors observed multiple opened and partially used containers of nutritional supplements, thickened beverages, and sweet tea that were not labeled with the date they were opened, despite manufacturer guidelines requiring use within a specified number of days after opening when refrigerated. In the 200-hall nourishment room, there were also several personal food items, including partially eaten foods and fast-food items, that were not labeled. Similarly, in the 100-hall nourishment room, opened thickened lemonade and nutritional supplement containers lacked opening dates, and personal food items were unlabeled. The Dietary Manager reported he was responsible for checking nourishment refrigerators for expired items but had no designated schedule, and he stated that nursing staff were responsible for checking nourishment rooms and that any staff placing residents’ personal food in the refrigerators were responsible for labeling it with the resident’s name and the date placed in storage. A Unit Manager later stated that two staff assigned to the nourishment room task were responsible for removing outdated, mislabeled, or unlabeled items at the end of their shift and that the policy for food storage and labeling was posted, but acknowledged that unlabeled items had been present and removed.