F0804

E

Failure to Provide Palatable and Attractive Meals

Claremore, Oklahoma Survey Completed on 12-18-2025

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

Surveyors identified a failure to ensure food was palatable, attractive, and served appropriately from the kitchen, affecting all residents who received meals from the kitchen. A sampled dinner tray consisting of beef pot pie, boiled squash, cornbread, and peach cake was observed with the pot pie presented as one large scoop of mixed vegetables and ground beef topped with slightly browned biscuits, surrounded by water and pieces of squash. The squash pieces were mushy and bland, and water from the boiled squash had soaked into the biscuit topping, making it soggy and bland. The facility’s Food Preparation Guidelines policy stated that food should be palatable, attractive, and at the proper temperature to ensure resident satisfaction and meet individual needs.

Resident council minutes from two consecutive months documented that residents were concerned the food was not being cooked properly, seemed to be getting worse, and that their dietary concerns were not being addressed. Individual residents reported that the food never tasted good, vegetables were always mushy, the food was bad with rarely offered alternatives, and meals were not appetizing in appearance, with vegetables always mushy and food either too salty or too bland. During a resident council meeting, residents again voiced concerns regarding the palatability of meals. When presented with the sampled dinner tray, the administrator rated the meal 5/10 for taste and appearance. The food service director, when informed of the observations, stated they felt the meals served were appetizing and palatable and noted that residents complained meals were either seasoned too much or not enough, making it difficult to prepare consistently tasty meals.