F0812

E

Food Sanitation, Hand Hygiene, and Temperature Control Failures During Meal Service

Chicago, Illinois Survey Completed on 02-21-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves failures in food sanitation and handling practices during meal preparation and service. During a noon meal service, a dietary aide and a cook were observed preparing resident meal trays while both had full facial beards without beard coverings, contrary to facility policy requiring hair restraints and beard guards during food preparation. The dietary manager confirmed that both staff members should have been wearing beard coverings to prevent hair from falling into residents' food and described the lack of beard coverings as unsanitary. The cook stated he did not know beard hair nets were available and acknowledged he should have been using one.

Additional unsanitary hand hygiene practices were observed on the tray line. The dietary aide was seen licking his hand and then using that same ungloved hand to pick up a menu ticket and place it on a resident’s meal tray, and he continued preparing multiple trays—counted by the dietary manager as 20 trays—before sanitizing his hands and donning gloves. The aide later stated he should not have licked his fingers and continued tray preparation, acknowledging that this was unsanitary. Later, while wearing gloves, the same aide adjusted his face mask at the ears and nose and then resumed preparing meal trays without removing his gloves and sanitizing his hands, which the dietary manager stated should have occurred before continuing the tray line.

Temperature control and documentation deficiencies were also identified. When meal carts were delivered to a dining room, the dietary manager checked a random tray and found the ham at 87.8°F, below the facility’s stated expectations for hot food temperatures and below the policy requirement that hot food prepped for serving maintain a minimum of 135°F, or at least 120–135°F at time of service for palatability. The dietary manager stated the ham should have been at least 110°F and that serving food at the right temperature makes it safe and palatable. When the surveyor requested the temperature log for the lunch meal, the cook reported that he had checked food temperatures before serving but had not documented them and was unable to provide a temperature log. The dietary manager stated that food temperatures should be taken before serving and recorded on a log, consistent with facility policies requiring temperatures to be taken and documented prior to service and during meal service, and maintained on file for one year.