F0812

F

Widespread Failures in Food Storage, Temperature Control, and Dishwashing Practices

Marietta, Ohio Survey Completed on 03-09-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves multiple failures in food storage, temperature control, dishwashing, and documentation in the dietary department and a resident kitchenette. Surveyors observed in the main kitchen that several frozen items, including rib-shaped pork patties, breakfast omelets, and precooked hamburger patties, were left open in the walk-in freezer, exposing them to freezer air. In dry storage, several opened pasta products were either past their disposal date, undated, unsealed, or both, including pasta opened in December without a discard date. The walk-in refrigerator had been above 41°F since early in the month and was taken out of use, and a temporary outdoor portable refrigerator showed a temperature of 42°F with a damaged mercury thermometer. In the kitchenette area, staff were not recording refrigerator temperatures consistently, were not recording freezer temperatures at all, and surveyors found undated food items such as a turkey and cheese sandwich and a piece of coconut cream pie.

Dishwashing practices and documentation were also deficient. Review of the dishwasher temperature log showed that staff only recorded temperatures twice daily, not for each meal, and that the same wash and rinse temperatures (160°F wash, 190°F rinse) were recorded for every entry without variation, with no lunch temperatures documented. During direct observation of the dishwashing process, the wash cycle initially registered 145°F, below the manufacturer’s minimum effective wash temperature of 150°F, and the staff member operating the dishwasher did not appear to monitor the temperature readings or notice when the machine failed to advance to the rinse cycle until the surveyor intervened. Subsequent cycles showed fluctuating wash and rinse temperatures, with several readings below the manufacturer’s recommended levels before finally reaching 150°F wash and 180°F rinse. The dietary manager confirmed the presence of open and undated food items, the inaccurate and incomplete dishwasher logs, and that the dishwasher temperatures were not reaching sanitary levels during observation.

Food service temperature monitoring and documentation for meals were inconsistent and inaccurate. During observation of a lunch tray line, the listed meal included store-bought pasta salad containing mayonnaise and eggs, turkey and cheese croissants, vegetables, cake, and milk. The dietary manager obtained very high temperatures for the hot vegetables (near or above 200°F), but there was no observation of staff taking or logging temperatures for the milk or pasta salad. When the surveyor reviewed the temperature log for that meal, the recorded temperatures for the vegetables and milk (180°F for hot foods and 33°F for milk) did not match the observed readings, and food temperatures were not being recorded consistently across days. Review of the February food temperature logs showed numerous days with missing entries for entire meals, and on several days all hot foods were uniformly recorded as 180°F and all cold items (milk, juice, dessert) as 33°F, suggesting inaccurate or non-specific documentation rather than actual measured temperatures.

Refrigeration failures and the handling of potentially temperature-abused milk and juice further contributed to the deficiency. The walk-in refrigerator had been above safe temperatures and taken out of service, leading the facility to use a rented portable refrigerator placed outside. Temperature logs for the portable unit showed it at 50°F on one evening, and interviews revealed conflicting accounts about how long it had been warm and whether food was removed promptly. Staff reported that when the rental refrigerator was found to be “ridiculously warm,” measurements of items inside showed milk and juice at approximately 50°F and potato salad at 42°F. A technician later confirmed the unit was at 50.4°F when he arrived and that milk and juice crates remained in the unit while he repaired it. Despite this, there was no documented testing of milk temperatures after repair, and interviews indicated that milk stored in the rental refrigerator was later served for breakfast and lunch before being discarded the following day, with no additional milk or juice deliveries made specifically to replace discarded product. The administrator and various staff interviews confirmed that the warm milk and juice remained in use through multiple meals before being thrown away, and that documentation on logs (such as the notation that the unit was warm for less than two hours) was based on verbal reports rather than recorded evidence.

Facility policies on Food Receiving and Storage and Food Preparation and Service required that refrigerated and frozen foods be covered, labeled, and dated with use-by dates; that dry goods be stored to maintain package integrity; that foods on nursing units be labeled with resident name and use-by date; and that foods requiring refrigeration be kept at or below 41°F. Policies also required use of clean, sanitized, and calibrated thermometers, adherence to manufacturer recommendations for sanitizing equipment, maintenance of proper hot and cold holding temperatures during service, discarding foods held in the temperature danger zone after four hours, and monitoring steam table temperatures throughout meal service. The observed practices in the kitchen, kitchenette, dishwashing area, and with the rental refrigerator did not align with these written policies, leading to the cited deficiency for failure to store and serve food under sanitary conditions.