Lack of Dietary Management and Inadequate Food Safety Practices
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to employ a full‑time dietary manager and to ensure kitchen staff had the competencies and skills necessary to safely perform food and nutrition service duties for 39 residents receiving meals from the kitchen. On multiple observations across several days and times, no dietary manager was present in the kitchen. Staff interviews confirmed the facility did not have a dietary manager, and the DON stated that an activities director and a cook informally monitored dietary staff. A cook reported being told a dietary manager was unnecessary because a registered dietician visited monthly, and the DON acknowledged difficulty hiring dietary staff and that the facility did not require food handler permits. Surveyors observed repeated food safety and sanitation issues. A hospice aide entered the kitchen without a hair covering and scooped ice from a cooler in front of kitchen staff who did not intervene or offer a hair net. A dietary aide stepped onto an open box of russet potatoes stored under a prep table to tie their shoe, then returned their foot to the floor. A large Styrofoam drink cup belonging to a dietary aide was stored on a top shelf in the kitchen. A cook handled multiple kitchen surfaces and equipment with bare hands, pushed a metal can lid down into a gallon can of pears and stored it in the refrigerator, then handled a plate by covering the food-contact surface with their palm and fingers before placing a grilled cheese sandwich on it and delivering it to a resident’s room, returning to the kitchen and handling leftovers and trash without washing hands. A broken blender lid required staff to use a butter knife to engage the safety lock before pureeing foods. The facility also failed to ensure staff followed menus and diet orders and understood basic dietary procedures. Pureed meals were not prepared according to the menu: a cook chose not to puree bread sticks on the menu, stating residents on pureed diets would not eat pureed bread, and a pureed plate was served with pureed lasagna, carrots, and dessert but no bread. A pureed tray requested by a CNA was served as mashed potatoes, applesauce, and chicken broth without noodles or meat, while a regular diet tray consisted of half a grilled cheese sandwich, diced peaches, and chicken noodle soup despite bread being available. Staff, including cooks and dietary aides, stated they did not know what an extended (RD‑approved) menu was, did not know food temperature danger zones or proper hot/cold holding temperatures, and did not know proper leftover cooling and storage requirements. One dietary aide stated the biggest problem in the kitchen was lack of management and training, and the DON stated one cook was considered “untrainable.”
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