Lacon Rehab: Dishwasher Failed to Sanitize - IL
"It's supposed to be between this one and that one," the aide told the state inspector on August 22, pointing to the 400 and 500 parts-per-million markers on the test strip package. But the strip showed the dishwasher wasn't reaching the 180-degree temperature required to kill bacteria and prevent cross contamination.
Nobody at Lacon Rehab and Nursing seemed to know whose job it was to fix the problem.
The dietary manager looked at the malfunctioning dishwasher and told the inspector she would have to call maintenance "because she doesn't know anything about it." When the maintenance director arrived 15 minutes later, he tried running the final rinse cycle. No temperature readings appeared on the screen.
"I didn't know I was responsible for the dishwasher," he said.
The dietary manager had never arranged service for the machine. "I'm not sure who we use," she admitted.
By noon, the facility had called in a maintenance director from a sister facility to examine the dishwasher. He confirmed it was designed to reach 190 degrees but couldn't explain why the temperature display wasn't working. The wash cycle showed normal readings, but the final rinse temperature remained blank.
"The machine is showing 200 on the strips," he told the inspector.
But when they tested the dishwasher together, the quaternary ammonia strip came back completely blank. The maintenance director had been using the wrong test strips entirely. The dishwasher was a high-temperature sanitization machine that relied on hot water, not chemical sanitizers.
He went searching for hot water test strips to measure the actual sanitization temperature.
He returned empty-handed. The facility didn't have any.
The inspector asked the dietary manager for temperature logs documenting the dishwasher's performance over time. Federal regulations require nursing homes to monitor sanitization equipment to ensure resident safety.
"We don't have those," she said.
The facility's own policy, dated December 30, 2024, specified that dishwasher hot water sanitization temperatures must stay between 180 and 194 degrees Fahrenheit. But staff had no way to verify the machine was meeting those standards.
For an unknown period, potentially weeks or months, every plate, cup, and utensil used by residents had passed through a dishwasher that couldn't prove it was actually sanitizing anything. The pale blue test strip suggested the machine was operating well below the temperature needed to kill harmful bacteria.
Cross contamination in nursing home kitchens can spread foodborne illnesses rapidly among elderly residents whose immune systems are already compromised by age and medical conditions. Salmonella, E. coli, and other pathogens can cause severe complications or death in this vulnerable population.
The inspection revealed a cascade of failures in basic food safety protocols. Staff used the wrong testing equipment for months without realizing their error. The maintenance director didn't know dishwasher oversight fell under his responsibilities. The dietary manager had never arranged professional service for critical kitchen equipment.
Most fundamentally, nobody was keeping the temperature logs that would have caught the problem before an inspector arrived.
The facility serves three meals daily to 56 residents, many of whom depend entirely on staff for nutrition and have no ability to prepare their own food safely. Every meal represented a potential exposure to bacteria that should have been eliminated in the final rinse cycle.
When the dishwasher's digital display stopped showing final rinse temperatures, no alarm bells went off. Staff continued loading dirty dishes, running cycles, and serving meals from plates and utensils that may not have been properly sanitized.
The wrong test strips gave false reassurance for an unknown period. Staff thought they were monitoring sanitization levels when they were actually testing for chemicals the machine didn't use.
The maintenance director from the sister facility could diagnose that something was wrong with the temperature display, but even he couldn't fix the fundamental problem. The facility lacked the most basic tool needed to verify their dishwasher was protecting residents from foodborne illness.
Lacon Rehab and Nursing had written a policy requiring proper dishwasher temperatures eight months earlier. But policy means nothing without the equipment, training, and monitoring systems needed to implement it.
Fifty-six residents continued eating from potentially contaminated dishes while their caregivers figured out which test strips to use.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Lacon Rehab and Nursing from 2025-08-22 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 20, 2026 · Our methodology
LACON REHAB AND NURSING in LACON, IL was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 22, 2025.
But the strip showed the dishwasher wasn't reaching the 180-degree temperature required to kill bacteria and prevent cross contamination.
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.