F0812

E

Failure to Monitor and Document Food Temperatures and Oversee Safe Food Handling

Grand Saline, Texas Survey Completed on 03-22-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to store, prepare, distribute, and serve food in accordance with professional standards for food service safety in the only kitchen reviewed. Surveyors’ record review of March 2026 food temperature logs showed that on multiple dates where logs were available, the facility did not document final internal cooking temperatures for breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals. For those same dates, required holding temperatures for breakfast and lunch had multiple blank or slashed entries, indicating that required temperature monitoring was not performed or recorded. On numerous additional dates in March 2026, there were no food temperature logs available at all, indicating that required temperature monitoring was not conducted or maintained on those days. The facility’s own temperature log form contained reference standards for safe food handling, including internal cooking temperatures and hot and cold holding parameters, but these standards were not consistently documented as being followed.

A complaint investigation intake documented an allegation that the facility’s food was of poor quality and that a resident was served raw chicken on a specific date, which the resident did not eat. During dinner meal service observation and interview, a resident’s family member reported that kitchen staff had served chicken that was not fully cooked. The Dietary Manager (DM), who had been in her position for about one month and had previously worked as a cook for about one year, stated that cooks were responsible for obtaining and documenting food temperatures for all meals and that logs were kept on a clipboard in the kitchen. However, she acknowledged that several March 2026 food temperature logs were incomplete or not completed and that she could not confirm whether food temperatures were consistently taken. She also stated she was not aware that cooks were not completing the logs until the survey interview and that she had not followed up to ensure the logs were being completed.

A cook who began working in the last week of February 2026 reported that he knew food temperatures were to be taken but said he was not instructed to document them and was unaware of the existence of a food temperature log. He stated that no one had shown or reviewed the temperature log with him, and while he knew poultry must reach 165°F, he could not identify required temperatures for other foods or the minimum holding temperatures for hot or cold items. The DM confirmed she had not trained or reviewed the food temperature log process with this cook and had assumed another cook had done so. The DM reported that she was notified on a specific date about residents’ complaints regarding uncooked chicken and received a picture showing chicken that was not fully cooked; she stated it was possible food temperatures were not taken that day and did not check the temperature log at that time. The cook initially denied but later admitted he was the cook who prepared the chicken on the date in question, stated he took the temperature but did not document it, and acknowledged that some chicken may not have been properly prepared. The DM’s job description and the facility’s Food Preparation and Service Policy both required oversight of dietary operations, investigation of food quality complaints, maintenance of dietary records, and adherence to specific cooking and holding temperatures, but the documented practices and interviews showed these requirements were not consistently implemented or monitored.

The facility’s written Food Preparation and Service Policy, revised in November 2022, defined the temperature danger zone, identified potentially hazardous foods, and specified required internal cooking temperatures and holding parameters for various food items, including poultry and reheated foods. It also required that food thermometers be clean, sanitized, and calibrated, and that food and nutrition services staff monitor temperatures of foods held in steam tables throughout meal service. The policy further required that proper hot and cold temperatures be maintained during food distribution and service, and that foods held in the danger zone beyond specified time limits be discarded. Despite these detailed policy requirements, the lack of complete temperature logs, the absence of logs on multiple days, the DM’s lack of verification of staff practices, and the cook’s lack of training and knowledge about documentation and holding temperatures collectively demonstrate that the facility did not ensure that food was prepared and served in accordance with its own professional standards and safe food handling practices.

The DM’s job description, signed earlier in the year, required her to evaluate and monitor all aspects of dietary operations, maintain high-quality food, plan and conduct training and in-service education for dietary personnel, investigate and resolve food quality and service complaints, and prepare routine reports and maintain all dietary records in accordance with policies and procedures. The cook job description required inspection of food and food preparation to maintain quality standards, temperature standards, and sanitation regulations. Interviews with the DM and the cook, combined with the incomplete and missing temperature logs and the complaint about undercooked chicken, show that these responsibilities were not fully carried out. The Administrator confirmed that the DM and the cook were both new and that the DM was responsible for training dietary staff and ensuring adherence to facility policies and procedures, but the evidence in the report shows that this oversight and training did not occur as required, contributing to the identified deficiency in food safety practices.