Food Storage, Sanitation, and Maintenance Failures in Dietary Services
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves failure to procure, store, prepare, and maintain food and kitchen areas according to professional standards. During an initial kitchen tour, surveyors observed visible dirt and grime buildup on a wall-mounted knife holder containing seven knives, black buildup and food particles on the cooking range, and a large white stain extending from the gas stove onto the adjacent floor. Black buildup was also present on oven door seals and window areas. Broken and missing floor tiles were noted under the right side of the oven and near the floor drain under the steamer, with the missing areas filled with standing water. A foam drinking cup was being used as a scoop and was left in direct contact with cornmeal in a bin. In reach-in coolers, multiple open food items were not labeled with use-by dates, including cans of whipped cream and a bag of provolone cheese, and one container of olives was open, dated, and stored past its use-by date. In the dry storage area, open and resealed items such as a bag of dry yellow cake mix and a bag of crisped rice cereal were not labeled with use-by dates, and other open items, including cocoa powder and strawberry gelatin, lacked any open or use-by dates. On a subsequent kitchen tour, surveyors again observed the previously identified concerns and additionally found two large cans of sliced beets with significant dents along the rims stored on a rotation rack for use. The Dietary Manager reported she had been in her role for about four months and stated that kitchen staff were not consistently following procedures for labeling perishable foods with use-by dates. She also indicated that the main cook, who typically oversaw kitchen cleaning, was on medical leave and that cleaning responsibilities had been assumed by other staff, resulting in cleaning tasks falling behind. Separate observations showed a large puddle of water under a food steamer, with water dripping and later pouring from a plastic pipe on the back of the appliance that was not positioned over the floor drain, causing water to accumulate on the kitchen floor. The Dietary Manager stated she had verbally reported the leaking steamer to Maintenance multiple times, but a review of the electronic maintenance request system showed no work orders for the kitchen area, and the Maintenance Director and Administrator both reported they were not aware of the leak and expected staff to report repair concerns through established procedures.
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