Unsanitary Kitchen Conditions and Use of Expired Bread in Food Service
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to store, prepare, distribute, and serve food in accordance with professional standards for food safety in the kitchen. Surveyor observations showed that the handwashing sink in the kitchen had a brown stain around the drain and faucet, and the step-on trash can next to the sink was covered with a brown sticky substance on the lid and was non-functional, requiring staff to touch the lid to open it. The Dietary Manager and Dietary Aide both stated that all dietary staff were responsible for cleaning the sink and trash, and the Administrator stated the step-on trash was intended to prevent staff from touching the trash after handwashing. Additional observations revealed multiple bread products on the kitchen bread rack that were past their best by dates, including several packs of sliced bread and hotdog buns. During lunch service, the Dietary Manager was about to serve a slice of bread from a package with a best by date that had already passed and then removed it from the serving line after checking the date. The Dietary Manager stated that all staff, especially the cook, were responsible for checking expiration dates, that the bread had been expired for almost a week, and that residents were at risk for illness when they ate bread past the best by date. The Administrator stated that if food was not used by the best by date, it should be discarded and that serving food a week after the best by date could have a negative impact on a resident, depending on the product. Further observations in the kitchen showed that the AC unit was covered with dust, the silver cart used to distribute residents’ food down the hall was stained with brownish substances on both sides, and the blue crate used to store dishes was also stained with a brownish substance. The Dietary Manager acknowledged that the AC had dust that could cause cross contamination to food, that the silver cart needed to be power washed and the kitchen deep cleaned, and that the blue crate was not cleaned as it should be and was used to store dirty dishes. The Dietary Aide confirmed that the AC unit looked dusty, the silver cart had a lot of dirt and did not look good, and the blue crate used for dishes did not look clean. Facility policies on Food Receiving and Storage and Sanitation required safe food handling practices, proper dating and rotation of foods, and that kitchen areas, equipment, and waste containers be kept clean, in good repair, and sanitary.
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