F0812

F

Food Storage, Sanitation, and Hair Restraint Failures in Dietary Services

Bertram, Texas Survey Completed on 11-26-2025

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

Surveyors identified a deficiency in the facility’s food service operations related to improper storage, labeling, dating, sanitation, and handling of food items in the kitchen. During an initial kitchen tour, surveyors observed a pan of raw chicken in the walk‑in refrigerator covered with plastic wrap but lacking any label or dates indicating when it was pulled to thaw or when it should be used. In the same tour, a reach‑in refrigerator contained a dried, crusted yellow substance covering the entire bottom, indicating it had not been cleaned as expected. In the canned food storage room, multiple cans of pineapple chunks and chocolate pudding had severe dents near the lip and sides, including one can with a finger‑deep dent and sharp points, and these cans were stored with regular stock rather than in a separate dented‑can area.

In dry storage, a box of sweet potatoes marked with a date that represented the received date contained spoiled product with large black areas, white fuzzy patches, and gnats throughout the potatoes. On the bread and miscellaneous items rack, surveyors found multiple 12‑count bags of hot dog buns with a best‑by date that had already passed, as well as additional bags with no visible date at all. Four large opened bags of chips, including one in a clear zip‑seal bag, had no open date or use‑by date. A cook stated that the bread rack was supposed to be checked every three days for expired items and that all items on the rack and in the refrigerator should be labeled with item identification and dates, but acknowledged that the rack likely had not been checked since several days prior and began discarding some of the obviously stale buns during the observation. The cook also stated that dented cans were supposed to be set aside and not kept with usable cans, and that the reach‑in refrigerator was expected to be cleaned weekly, but she could not identify the yellow substance in the bottom of the unit.

Surveyors also observed failures in personal protective practices and ongoing food quality control. A cook with a quarter‑inch beard was seen preparing desserts and assisting with plating meal trays while wearing a hairnet but no beard guard. He later stated that the expectation was for dietary staff to always wear hairnets and beard guards in the kitchen, and that hairnets and beard guards were normally stocked on a kitchen window shelf but were not readily available at the time, which he said contributed to him forgetting to put one on. The dietary manager confirmed his expectation that dented cans be removed from regular stock and placed in a designated area for return, but the cart he used for dented cans had no clear identification. He also stated that items in refrigerators should be marked with open or pulled dates and use‑by dates, and that sanitation of kitchen equipment and refrigerators was to occur daily and every shift.

On a follow‑up observation, surveyors found that several bags of hot dog buns with a best‑by date that had already passed remained on the bread rack next to fresh bread, and the buns were hard and stale. When questioned, the dietary manager reported being told that a best‑by date was different from an expiration date and that it was up to the facility when to discard such items, and he left the stale bread on the rack. The facility dietitian later stated that bread should not be kept much longer than about a week past its best‑by date, that she would not want residents to receive stale bread, and that staff should pay attention to color, texture, and smell and discard items that feel stale or show spoilage. The dietitian and the administrator both stated expectations that food items be labeled and dated with received, opened, and use‑by dates, that frozen items pulled to thaw be dated, that dented cans be separated and returned, that refrigerators and equipment be cleaned daily and as messes occur, and that dietary staff always wear hairnets and beard guards. Facility policies and FDA Food Code excerpts reviewed by surveyors required opened foods to be labeled and dated, dented cans to be stored separately and not used, perishable foods to be used within specified time frames, frozen items thawed under refrigeration and dated, and dietary staff to wear hair restraints, all of which contrasted with the observed practices in the kitchen.