F0812

E

Failure to Ensure Proper Hand Hygiene During Food Handling and Tray Service

El Paso, Texas Survey Completed on 01-15-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves a failure to maintain sanitary food service practices by not ensuring proper hand hygiene by dietary staff during food handling and meal service. During a lunch observation, a dietary staff member used her cell phone immediately before beginning to place resident lunch trays onto carts and did not perform hand hygiene between handling the phone and handling the trays. After placing several trays on a cart, she was asked by an LVN to prop open a door; she picked up a food can, placed it on the floor to hold the door open, and then returned directly to the food line and continued placing food trays on carts without washing or sanitizing her hands.

Further observation showed that the same dietary staff member continued to handle food service items without hand hygiene. She provided tray covers with both hands, handed salsa and ground chicken to an LVN, and resumed placing trays on the food cart, all without observed handwashing or sanitizing. She later left the food line and returned wearing gloves, but it was not known whether she had performed hand hygiene before donning the gloves. In interviews, the dietary manager, DON, and administrator each stated that staff are expected to wash their hands before handling food trays and after touching non-food items or moving between tasks, and that the observed conduct did not comply with facility expectations. Another dietary staff member reported that he consistently practiced proper hand hygiene and that the facility trains staff, including new hires, to wash or sanitize hands immediately after touching anything outside the food tray line. The facility’s hand hygiene policy stated that hand hygiene is the primary means to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections and that all personnel are expected to adhere to these practices.