Food Safety, Labeling, and Storage Deficiencies in Dietary and Medication Areas
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified that dietary staff did not follow the facility’s sanitary standards and food safety policies. Two dietary aides with visible facial hair were observed working in the kitchen without required beard restraints, despite the policy stating that hair and beard restraints must be worn at all times in the kitchen. In the dry food storage area, a 6-quart clear plastic container holding about one-third full of dry cereal was found without any label identifying the food item and without an open date, discard date, or expiration date, contrary to the facility’s food storage policy requiring foods to be labeled and dated. In the walk-in refrigerator, 14 packages of meat were stored without labels identifying the type of meat and without expiration dates. Further observations in the walk-in freezer showed the thermometer reading 30 degrees, and multiple frozen food items, including salisbury steaks, pork chops, sweet potato puffs, cinnamon rolls, pork patties, chicken tenders, ice cream cups, pork franks, smile fry potatoes, and hamburger patties, were not frozen solid, despite the facility’s policy that foods must be stored at a temperature that keeps them frozen solid. These items were confirmed to be available for resident use and should have been discarded per the CDM. Additionally, on a medication cart, a 32-ounce carton of nutritional supplement that was half full was found with an expiration date that had already passed, and an LPN confirmed the supplement was expired and still available for resident use. The Infection Preventionist reported that no residents had shown signs of foodborne illness at the time of the survey.
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