Failure to Label and Date Refrigerated Food Items
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified a deficiency in food labeling and dating practices in the facility’s kitchen refrigerator, which had the potential to affect all 38 residents. During an observation and interview with the Dietary Manager, multiple food items were found in the refrigerator without any labels or dates, including two containers of mushrooms, a plastic container of cooked vegetable mix, peaches, potato soup, a pitcher of tea, a pitcher of lemonade, a plastic package of cheese slices, a plastic container of cooked steak for Philly cheese steak, a plastic container of chicken salad, a plastic container of Jell-O, a container of muffins, a bag of shredded cheese, and a plastic container of chili. The Dietary Manager confirmed these items were not labeled or dated and stated she had not worked the previous night and that the night staff had failed to label or date the food. Review of the facility’s 2025 “Date Marking for Food Safety” policy showed that all opened or prepared foods must be clearly marked with the date of opening and the date by which they must be consumed or discarded, and that the individual opening or preparing the food is responsible for date marking at that time, with the Dietary Manager or designee required to spot check the refrigerator weekly for compliance and document accordingly. This failure to follow the facility’s date-marking policy for multiple refrigerated food items constituted the basis of the cited deficiency.
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