Edgerton Care Center: Cold Food Violations Found - WI
The inspection, conducted in late March 2025, turned up a single but consistent failure: hot food served at temperatures far below what the facility's own dietary manager said they should be.
The resident, identified in the report as R15, told inspectors during an initial screening interview on March 25 that scrambled eggs and vegetables came out cold roughly three times a week. She had given up on the eggs entirely.
The next morning, inspectors ran a test. After all the dining rooms and hall trays on the third floor had been served, a surveyor accepted a breakfast tray and took temperatures across the items on it. The scrambled eggs came in at 115.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The sausage links were at 91.6 degrees. The milk, which should have been kept at or below 41 degrees, was sitting at 45.4 degrees.
The eggs, the surveyor noted, also tasted cold.
When inspectors sat down with the dietary manager, identified as DM E, she said hot foods are expected to leave the kitchen at 165 degrees. Asked directly whether 115 degrees was a safe serving temperature for the eggs, she said she would have to look at the palatability. On the milk, she acknowledged it should be 41 degrees or lower and said staff had been keeping it in a tray of ice.
The ice, evidently, was not doing the job.
A certified nursing assistant, identified as CNA M, gave inspectors a window into how the problem develops on the floor. She described a workflow where the kitchen preps the last few trays and leaves them for floor staff to retrieve. If she is already in a room dropping off a tray and a resident asks for something, like a packet of mayo, she has to leave and come back. By the time she returns, the trays the kitchen set out are sitting uncovered and cooling.
The plastic covers on the plates, the report notes, sit directly on top of the tray, not sealed over a heated base.
Inspectors asked CNA M whether she thought these were things she should have reported. She said probably, and then added: "Now that I'm saying it out loud."
That exchange captures something the temperature readings alone do not. The problem was visible enough that a nursing assistant on the floor could describe it in detail, with a specific example, on the spot. It just hadn't been reported. Nobody had connected what was happening at the tray carts to a formal complaint, and the resident who stopped eating the eggs had mentioned it to surveyors during a screening, not to facility management.
The facility's own food temperature policy, undated, calls for temperatures to be tested and recorded before meal service by a food service employee. The purpose listed in the policy is both food safety and palatability. The test tray showed temperatures in what the report calls the danger zone, the range where bacterial growth accelerates, for multiple items.
The deficiency was cited at the minimal harm level, meaning inspectors did not find evidence that the cold food caused injury. But a resident who has stopped eating a protein source because it repeatedly arrives unpalatable is not a resident whose nutritional needs are being fully met. For elderly nursing home residents, that kind of quiet dietary withdrawal can compound over time in ways that don't show up in an inspection report until something else goes wrong.
The resident's name is not in the report. What is there is her answer when asked about the food: the eggs and vegetables come cold, about three times a week, and she stopped eating the eggs.
She said it plainly, to the first person who asked.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Edgerton Care Center, Inc from 2025-03-31 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.
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Last verified: October 31, 2026 · Our methodology
Edgerton Care Center, Inc in Edgerton, WI was cited for violations during a health inspection on March 31, 2025.
She had given up on the eggs entirely.
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.