Improper food storage and expired items in refrigeration: A survey found multiple refrigerated food items stored without required labels or dates, including tortillas, cucumber, turkey, cheese, and onion, along with several spoiled or expired items such as celery, strawberries, peppers, sour cream, tomato, and cucumbers. The DM stated some items were expired or should not be served, and also noted pre-cooked sausage was stored with uncooked bacon, contrary to facility policy.
Food was served below required hot holding temperatures for 50 of 51 residents receiving meals from dietary. Observations found cheeseburgers, corndogs, soup, hamburgers, chicken tenders, and tilapia sitting out or on the steam table at temperatures well below the facility’s 135 F hot-holding standard, and one resident received a cheeseburger at 91 F while another received tilapia at 103 F. Staff stated the food was not reheated because residents do not like it steaming hot, while the CDM, Administrator, QA Corporate Nurse, and DON stated meals were expected to be held above 135 F and reheated or remade if not at the proper temperature.
Ice Machine Contamination and Cross-Contamination During Meal Service: The facility failed to keep the kitchen ice machine clean and failed to serve meals in a way that limited cross contamination. Surveyors observed green, brown, and black buildup in the ice machine reservoir and on the front covering. In the satellite kitchen, a dining services associate and the dining manager used the same gloved hands to handle hamburger buns for sloppy joes and then touched multiple surfaces, utensils, plates, trays, and their own clothing. The DON identified that 39 residents ate meals prepared in the kitchen and served from the satellite kitchen.
Opened food items were found improperly stored in the dietary freezer and resident nourishment refrigerator without required dates, names, or use-by labels. Surveyors observed undated ice cream and sherbet in the freezer, and multiple unlabeled resident and staff food items in the nourishment refrigerator, including Mexican food, soda, cherries, and cheese. The facility also lacked prior temperature monitoring documentation for the nourishment refrigerator, and leadership acknowledged no one had been assigned to track temperatures.
Unsanitary ice machine observed with a black slimy substance on the underside of the plastic rim inside the ice compartment. The dietary manager stated the substance appeared to be grime and should not have been in the ice machine, and noted the unit was due for weekly cleaning. The kitchen provided nourishment to 85 residents.
Unsanitary Ice Machine Maintenance: The dining room ice machine had a black substance inside the ice storage bin when wiped with a paper towel, and the facility had no documentation that it had been cleaned and sanitized. Dietary staff gave conflicting reports about who cleaned the machine and how often, and the CDM later stated staff had only been wiping down the outside of the ice machine with no cleaning log.
Undated food items and improperly kept leftovers were found in the kitchen refrigerator. Several opened and unopened items, including lunch meat, chicken, cheese, sauces, and sausage patties, lacked dates, and a container of Mexican soup remained in the refrigerator past the facility's stated storage time. The NSM, RD, DON, and Administrator all stated food items were expected to be dated when received and opened, and leftovers were expected to be discarded per policy.
Expired food items were found during a kitchen tour, including an opened container of tartar sauce that should have been discarded long ago and unopened milk products past their best-by dates. The dietary manager stated expired milk products were supposed to be placed in a taped crate, but the items were not stored that way.
Surveyors found multiple food safety failures involving dish machine sanitation logs, hand hygiene, and refrigerator labeling. Dietary staff did not consistently record sanitizer levels or rinse temperatures for the dish machine, were observed touching their face, hair, glasses, dirty dishes, and clean food without washing or sanitizing their hands, and several food items in refrigerators were missing dates or had incorrect dating.
Unlabeled and Undated Food Items in Kitchen Refrigerator: The kitchen refrigerator contained opened bags of sausage links, breaded chicken strips, and tater tots with no labels or discard dates. The DM, RD, DON, and Administrator stated opened food items should be labeled and dated per facility policy, and the Administrator confirmed all residents received meals from the kitchen.
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