Food Storage, Labeling, and Equipment Sanitation Deficiencies in Dietary Areas
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified multiple failures to store, prepare, distribute, and serve food in accordance with professional standards in the main kitchen, a kitchenette, and related equipment. During an initial kitchen tour, the interior of the ice machine contained a white component with small flecks of pink, wipeable matter that could be removed with a paper towel, and the cook acknowledged this residue. On the same tour, a worktable that is occasionally used as a food preparation area had a cell phone and two beverage cups lying on it, which the cook acknowledged should not have been there. In one of three freezers, surveyors found a large zip-lock style bag labeled with a resident’s name and dated “7/21” containing a frozen chicken breast with an accumulation of ice crystals, and seven unopened containers of Rich’s On Top Soft Whip Sweet Cream with an expiration date of 9/19/2025; the cook acknowledged the products were expired and that the chicken breast should have been discarded earlier. The same freezer had a door with rubber molding partially hanging off, with an accumulation of black matter and food particles behind the molding, and the interior white-coated finish was scored, discolored, and flaking off in various locations, which the cook also acknowledged. In the kitchenette refrigerator, surveyors observed an unlabeled and undated eight-ounce Styrofoam cup filled with a white liquid, which the cook acknowledged should have been labeled, dated, and discarded. They also found a brown bag labeled only with a resident’s name that contained three individually wrapped cheese sticks, an opened bag of pepperoni, an unlabeled and undated zip-lock style bag containing a pickle, and an unlabeled and undated plastic container with unidentifiable cubed red and white food items covered with a patchy white film. The brown bag lacked a room number, a received-on date, and a discard-by date, contrary to the facility’s policy on food brought in by visitors, which requires nursing staff to monitor such food for spoilage, contamination, and safety, and to label it with the resident’s name, room number, and date, and discard after 24 hours. The cook acknowledged the lack of labeling and dating and the presence of the patchy white film on the food items.
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