The Hills Post Acute: Food Safety Violations Found - CA
That was one of two food safety problems inspectors documented during a March 2025 visit to the facility at 1800 Old Tustin Avenue. The other involved milk.
On March 18, inspectors watched the facility's tray line as meals went out to residents. They pulled a temperature reading on the milk being served. It came back at 43 degrees Fahrenheit. That was already above the 41-degree limit the facility's own meal service policy sets for milk and cold beverages.
Then they ran a test tray, the kind of controlled check where inspectors follow a meal from the kitchen through delivery to see what temperature food actually reaches a resident. The milk on that tray read 49.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
The registered dietitian and the director of social services were standing there for both readings. They acknowledged what the thermometer showed.
The facility's own written policy, titled Meal Service, spells out the standard clearly. Milk is to be served at 41 degrees or less. Cold items are to be placed on trays as close to serving time as possible to keep temperatures below 41 degrees. The recommended ceiling at the point of delivery to a resident is 45 degrees. The milk on the test tray came in more than four degrees above even that outer limit.
Milk held above safe temperatures creates conditions where bacteria can multiply. For elderly residents, many of whom have weakened immune systems or underlying health conditions, foodborne illness carries serious risk.
The freezer problem was flagged separately. Inspectors noted that the chest freezer used for ice cream storage had no way to verify it was maintaining a safe temperature. Without a thermometer, staff had no means of knowing whether the freezer was running cold enough or had experienced a temperature fluctuation that could compromise the food inside. The registered dietitian and the assistant director of social services, who were present when inspectors raised the issue, confirmed the finding and said a thermometer was needed.
The facility's meal service policy does address temperature monitoring. It states that food temperatures should be periodically checked throughout meal service to ensure proper hot and cold holding temperatures are maintained. On the day inspectors watched the tray line, that monitoring either did not happen or did not catch what the inspectors' own thermometer found within minutes of observation.
CMS assigned the violations a harm level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, with some residents affected. That classification sits at the lower end of the federal deficiency scale. It does not mean the problem was insignificant to the people eating those meals.
Residents in post-acute and long-term care facilities depend entirely on the facility for their food. They cannot check a carton's temperature before drinking. They cannot send a meal back because something seems off. When a nursing home's own monitoring fails, residents have no independent way to know whether what they are being served meets basic safety standards.
The Hills Post Acute did not dispute either finding. The registered dietitian and the director of social services confirmed the milk temperatures during the tray line observation. The registered dietitian and the assistant director of social services confirmed the missing thermometer in the freezer. In both cases, staff were present, saw the same results inspectors documented, and agreed with what was found.
The inspection was completed March 24, 2025.
What the facility's policy required and what inspectors measured on a test tray were not close. They were separated by more than eight degrees.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for The Hills Post Acute from 2025-03-24 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
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Last verified: November 5, 2026 · Our methodology
THE HILLS POST ACUTE in SANTA ANA, CA was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 24, 2025.
That was one of two food safety problems inspectors documented during a March 2025 visit to the facility at 1800 Old Tustin Avenue.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.