Failure to Maintain Clean Kitchen Equipment and Food Service Areas
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to properly clean and maintain multiple pieces of kitchen equipment and surfaces in accordance with professional standards. During a continuous observation of the kitchen, surveyors noted white residue on the tops and bottom inner surfaces of two meal carts, while the Dietary Manager stated the carts were cleaned weekly. Cloudy white oil and food crumbs were observed inside and around the deep fryer, despite the Dietary Manager reporting it had last been cleaned several days earlier and that shrimp had been fried the previous evening, after which it should have been cleaned. Brown and white substances were seen on the inner bottom surface and bottom doors of the tray line cooler, and a buildup of yellow and white flaky material was present on top of the dishwasher. Additional unclean conditions were observed on kitchen walls, equipment, and storage areas. Drip marks were seen covering the wall behind the fryer, steamer, and convection oven; the Dietary Manager stated the wall could not be cleaned because the equipment was attached to gas lines and could not be moved. A black substance was observed around the edges of a large plastic bin holding steamer pans on the clean rack, and two full-size perforated steamer pans had a black substance on their inner surfaces, even though the Dietary Manager stated these items were no longer used but acknowledged they should not be dirty. A white liquid substance was found on the floor under boxes holding milk cartons in the walk-in refrigerator; the Dietary Manager reported she did not know how long it had been there, and a dietary aide stated he had seen the spill earlier but did not clean it up. Review of the Kitchen Cleaning Checklist Logs for December and part of January showed inconsistent and incomplete documentation of weekly cleaning tasks, with blank spaces and varying methods of recording dates and signatures. According to these logs, the deep fryer had not been cleaned since late December, the steamer had not been cleaned since an unspecified date in December, and the dishwasher had not been cleaned since mid-January. Staff interviews revealed that some cleaning tasks were not completed due to workload, with day and evening staff each indicating that missed cleaning was left for other shifts, and that some staff did not follow the assigned cleaning schedule. The Dietary Manager acknowledged that she did not consistently verify that assigned cleaning tasks were completed and that cleaning logs were not consistently posted or maintained during the holiday period, contributing to the unclean conditions observed in the kitchen and food service areas.
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