Cassville Health Care Center: Food Safety Failures - MO
The milk in the large chest-style refrigerator at Cassville Health Care Center had a best-by date of September 19. By the time inspectors arrived on September 23, that date was four days gone. Over it, a staff member had applied a strip of tape marked with the newer date: 9/23/25. The dietary manager told inspectors she did not know why.
That milk was not the only problem. It was not even close to the worst one.
In a small Magic Chef refrigerator, inspectors found sliced cheese and bologna. The exterior thermometer read 51.9 degrees Fahrenheit. When an inspector placed a thermometer inside and let it sit for five minutes with the door closed, it confirmed what the exterior gauge already suggested: 51.9 degrees. The dietary manager took the temperature of the bologna herself. It read 53.4 degrees. The preferred maximum is 40 degrees. The logs taped to the refrigerator showed staff had last recorded a temperature on September 19, four days before inspectors walked in.
A two-door stainless steel reach-in refrigerator was running at 48.7 degrees inside, confirmed by the same method. Its exterior thermometer read 50 degrees. Staff had last logged its temperature as 40 degrees, also on September 19. Inside that refrigerator, inspectors found an opened gallon of mustard, an opened gallon of mayonnaise, an opened gallon of Italian dressing, sliced cheese, grated cheese, an opened gallon jar of pickles, eggs, pre-cooked sausage patties, butter, an opened large jar of tomato sauce, three five-pound containers of sour cream, and cooked pork in a steam bin.
The cooked pork was dated September 13. Inspectors arrived September 23. The pork had been sitting in a malfunctioning refrigerator for ten days.
The dietary manager explained that the stainless steel refrigerator sometimes runs warm because staff put pitchers of freshly brewed hot tea inside. She said staff may need to move the food to a different refrigerator that is working properly. She said staff should check and log temperatures twice a day, every shift. She said the thermometers should be kept inside the refrigerators continuously. When inspectors asked about the actual logs, the pattern was the same for every unit: September 19 was the last entry.
The problems extended well beyond the cold storage. The griddle had significant grease and food debris baked onto its surface. Below it, the oven exterior was heavily soiled, and the oven handles had turned discolored and were tacky to the touch. Beneath a food preparation area, cutting boards and pots and pans sat on a shelf surrounded by crumbs, small pieces of food debris, and bits of trash. In the dry-storage room across from the kitchen, a bulk bin of breadcrumbs carried a label reading simply "4/18," at least five months before the inspection.
The dietary manager said she had struggled to get some dietary staff to clean as directed.
The administrator, interviewed that same afternoon, said refrigerator temperatures should be posted and logged every shift. He said he did not know whether staff were actually doing it. He said he did not know whether all the refrigerators were holding appropriate temperatures. He said the kitchen should be kept clean, and that cleaning schedules should be completed every day.
He said this while inspectors stood in a kitchen where the oven handles were sticky, where breadcrumbs had sat in a bin since April, where three separate refrigerators had been running too warm for days, and where cooked pork had been stored for ten days in one of them.
The dietary manager acknowledged one more detail near the end of the interview. Residents keep bottles of condiments on the tables in the main dining room, she said. Most of the bottles were purchased by the residents themselves, and the residents had asked that the condiments stay on the tables permanently. She said that was the reason they were there.
Inspectors cited the violations as affecting many residents, with potential for actual harm.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Cassville Health Care Center from 2025-09-24 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 27, 2026 · Our methodology
CASSVILLE HEALTH CARE CENTER in CASSVILLE, MO was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 24, 2025.
The milk in the large chest-style refrigerator at Cassville Health Care Center had a best-by date of September 19.
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.