Improper Food Storage, Labeling, and Sanitation in Kitchen and Walk-In Refrigerator
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified a failure to store and label food in a sanitary manner in the facility kitchen, potentially affecting all 74 residents who consumed food prepared there. In the dry storage room, a large amount of loose flour was found lying in the bottom of a plastic bin on a shelf, and three open bags of corn flakes were observed without dates indicating when they had been opened. Soft taco shells were stored in plastic storage bags that were not labeled with dates opened. A dietary employee confirmed that all opened foods were required to be labeled with the date opened and acknowledged that the flour bin needed to be cleaned out. Inside the walk-in refrigerator, surveyors observed multiple improperly stored and apparently spoiled food items. An opened bag of shredded mozzarella cheese lay on a shelf with the top corner unsealed, no date opened, and a light red substance around the opening. An opened bag of salad mix was not closed or sealed, and some lettuce inside was light brown, wilted, and slimy. An open package of sliced hickory-smoked turkey breast, stored in a plastic bag, was dated as opened 42 days earlier, and an open package of thick-sliced bologna, also in a plastic bag, was dated as opened 47 days earlier. Two plastic bags containing peeled boiled eggs and sliced ham that was yellow and slimy were undated and were lying in the bottom of a metal pan containing an unknown thick red liquid. A plastic beverage pitcher with a brown, thick substance and a small plastic cup with a white plastic lid containing a thin white-clear fluid were both unlabeled. A dietary employee confirmed that foods should be dated when opened or prepared, that the dated bologna and turkey were likely expired, that the cup appeared to contain separated spoiled milk, that the metal pan needed to be cleaned and should not have had food lying in it, and that opened food packages should be properly closed or sealed. Facility policy required food to be stored in clean, dry, uncontaminated areas, at appropriate temperatures, covered, labeled, and dated, with leftovers used within seven days or discarded.
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