Failure to Provide Palatable Meals at Safe and Appetizing Temperatures
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that meals were palatable, attractive, and maintained at safe and appetizing temperatures for residents consuming food prepared in the kitchen. During a Resident Council meeting, all 6 residents present reported that food was often cold, tasteless, and not nutritious, and that meal trays, especially those delivered to rooms, lacked condiments. They also stated that the dinner meal was usually the worst meal of the day. The 2022 FDA Food Code standard that hot food be maintained at 135°F or above and cold food at 41°F or below was cited as the applicable guideline. During observation of a lunch meal service, the posted menu listed roast beef with gravy, scalloped potatoes, seasoned green beans, a roll with margarine, coconut cake, and a beverage, but the meal actually served was roasted pork with gravy, scalloped potatoes, green beans, a roll with margarine, white cake, and a beverage, with no garnishes or condiments provided. When the last tray from the meal cart was tested, the scalloped potatoes were 135°F but tasted bland, the gravy was bland and tasteless, and the green beans were 128°F instead of the expected 135°F, and were described as bland and mushy; no beverage was present on the tray. The Dietary Manager stated that the facility used frozen food that often lacked flavor, confirmed the green beans should have been at 135°F, and reported that only one staff member was scheduled for the dinner meal service each day.
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