Federal inspectors documented widespread food safety violations during an August inspection that put all 56 residents at risk of foodborne illness. The problems extended from the main kitchen to individual resident rooms, where staff had failed to clean out spoiled food for months.
In the kitchen's wall-mounted refrigerator unit, inspectors found a large package of uncooked beef patties stored directly above a box of popsicles on August 20. The placement violated basic food safety protocols designed to prevent contamination from raw meat dripping onto ready-to-eat items.
The adjacent standing refrigerator contained multiple violations. A plastic tub of sour cream bore a manufacturer's expiration date of July 2 — nearly seven weeks past its safe consumption period. A clear container held hamburger patties with no label or date marking their preparation or expiration.
Three prepared food containers lacked required discard dates despite facility policy mandating such labeling. Banana pudding prepared August 12 sat unmarked for its disposal deadline. Chocolate pudding from August 11 carried no expiration information. A container of tuna prepared August 13 also lacked a discard date.
The dietary manager acknowledged the labeling failures when questioned by inspectors, stating that someone had failed to write discard dates on the labels as required.
In the dry storage room refrigerator, inspectors discovered turkey labeled with a use-by date of January 2, 2026 — an unusually distant expiration that raised questions about proper storage and labeling practices.
The most egregious violations appeared in a resident's personal refrigerator. The room belonging to a cognitively intact resident contained a carton of 2% milk with a July 8 expiration date — six weeks past safe consumption. Two protein shakes had expired even longer ago, with dates of March 5, 2024 and July 4, 2024.
A Styrofoam container in the same refrigerator held a facility meal ticket dated June 30, nearly two months old.
The resident told inspectors that staff lacked time to clean out her refrigerator, explaining how the expired items had accumulated over months. Her cognitive assessment confirmed she was mentally capable of understanding the food safety risks but relied on staff assistance for refrigerator maintenance.
Administrator V1 acknowledged the violations when interviewed August 22, stating she expected dietary staff to follow established food service policies.
The facility's own Food and Supply Storage Policy, dated August 1, explicitly required that food and supply storage areas be maintained in a clean, safe, and sanitary manner. The policy mandated that prepared foods stored in refrigerators be covered, labeled, and dated with expiration dates.
The policy further specified that all foods must be covered, labeled, and dated, and that products without manufacturer expiration dates must receive written use-by dates from staff.
Despite these clear requirements, inspectors found systematic failures across multiple storage areas. The violations affected prepared foods, raw ingredients, and resident personal items alike.
The inspection occurred following a complaint, suggesting that food safety problems had become visible enough to prompt outside reporting. Federal regulations require nursing homes to procure food from approved sources and store, prepare, distribute and serve food according to professional standards.
Cross-contamination risks from the raw beef storage above ready-to-eat popsicles represented an immediate threat to resident health. Foodborne illness poses particular dangers to elderly populations, who often have compromised immune systems and underlying health conditions.
The expired dairy products and protein supplements in the resident's room demonstrated how food safety failures extended beyond kitchen operations into daily care practices. The accumulation of months-old items suggested systematic neglect of basic safety protocols.
Inspectors classified the violations as having potential for actual harm to residents, though no specific illnesses were documented during the inspection. The scope affected all 56 residents living at the facility, as kitchen operations and food storage practices impact the entire population.
The facility's recent policy update in August suggested awareness of food safety requirements, yet implementation clearly fell short of written standards. The gap between policy and practice left residents vulnerable to preventable health risks from contaminated or spoiled food.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Evercare of Swansea from 2025-08-27 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.