Failure to Label and Date Residents’ Personal Food Items in Refrigerator
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to store residents’ personal food in accordance with its own posted standards and professional food service safety practices. During observation of the resident personal food refrigerator, surveyors noted a sign instructing that all items must be labeled with the resident’s name and date, must be covered, and would be discarded after three days. Inside the refrigerator, there was a large container holding a cloudy, brown, soup-like liquid with a brown meat-like substance, and a separate styrofoam container containing vegetables; neither container was labeled with a resident name or date. An LPN confirmed that the unlabeled food items should be discarded because they were not labeled as required. The DON reported that she was responsible for checking the fridge for expired or undated food and discarding such items, and stated that food was supposed to be thrown away after three days in the fridge. No specific resident medical histories or conditions were described in relation to this deficiency, and the report focused solely on the improper storage and labeling of personal food items in the resident refrigerator.
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