Failure to Follow Menu-Specified Portion Sizes for Mechanical Soft Meals
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to serve menu-specified portion sizes for a lunch meal, resulting in residents receiving smaller portions than required to meet their nutritional needs. The facility’s week-at-a-glance menu for a specific Tuesday listed hamburger with seasoned pinto beans and seasoned corn, and the corresponding menu spreadsheet directed that mechanical soft diets receive a #10 scoop plus 1 oz broth of ground hamburger. During interviews, one resident who received room trays reported that the food was horrible and that portions were small, while another resident stated that portions were sometimes so small that they were only enough to feed grandchildren. The Resident Council President reported frequent complaints from residents about small portions, residents going to vending machines due to hunger, personal experiences of being hungry despite an order for double protein, receiving jerk chicken with hardly any meat to cover the bun, and being served cereal in a dessert bowl. During an observed meal service at the kitchen steam table for second-floor residents on mechanical soft diets, a dietary aide plated food using a small black scoop for ground hamburger for four residents on mechanical soft consistency diets. When questioned, the aide did not know the scoop size, reported not looking at the menu spreadsheet, and no spreadsheet was present at the steam table. The food service manager, who stated that both she and the aide were new and still in training, identified that the aide should have used a #12 green scoop and confirmed that the black scoop in use was a #30 scoop providing approximately 1.07 oz. The facility’s recipe for Ground Hamburger with Broth specified a serving size of a #10 scoop plus 1 oz broth, with instructions to serve 2 oz ground protein with a #10 scoop plus 1 oz hot broth, and the facility’s scoop chart showed that a #10 scoop equals 3.33 oz and a #12 scoop equals 2.90 oz. The dietitian stated that recipes indicate serving sizes to ensure meals meet caloric and protein needs and that using the wrong scoop affects meal planning.
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