Sunnyview Nursing Home: Cold Food Violations - Butler, PA
The complaint inspection, conducted December 22, 2025, found that kitchen staff had failed to record holding temperatures for 25 meals over nine consecutive days, leaving no documented proof that food served to residents was kept hot enough to prevent foodborne illness. The facility's own policy requires hot food to be held above 135 degrees. None of that was being tracked.
The complaints had been piling up for weeks before inspectors walked into the main kitchen. On November 21, a resident's family member flagged the problem: he was receiving cold food. Another family filed a concern on December 1: the food comes out cold. A third, five days later, was more emphatic. The food, they wrote, is never warm.
Inspectors reviewed the Food Temperature and Evaluation Log covering December 11 through December 19. The log had columns for the final cooking temperature, the holding temperature at the start of service, and the holding temperature at the end of service. Of the three holding temperature columns, two were supposed to tell staff and supervisors whether food stayed hot from the moment it left the kitchen to the moment it reached a resident's tray. For nine breakfast meals, eight lunches, and eight dinners, those columns were empty.
The Food Service Director confirmed it at 11:18 a.m. the day inspectors reviewed the log. The facility had failed to record holding temperatures. There was no dispute about what the paperwork showed, or didn't show.
What the residents said was harder to dismiss.
Resident R2 didn't mince words. "Ninety-five percent of the time," she told inspectors, "it's f cold." Resident R1 said it was mostly always cold, usually at lunch. Resident R3 said it happened pretty often. Resident R4 said he had gotten cold food before.
Four residents. The same complaint. Stretching back at least a month before inspectors arrived.
The danger in cold food at a nursing home isn't just discomfort. Food held below 135 degrees enters what food safety standards call the temperature danger zone, the range in which bacteria multiply rapidly. For elderly residents, many of whom have weakened immune systems or chronic conditions that compromise their ability to fight infection, a foodborne illness can escalate quickly. Inspectors cited the lapses as creating the potential for foodborne illness in the main kitchen.
The Food Service Director confirmed that conclusion as well, in a second interview later that same afternoon.
What the inspection report doesn't explain is how 25 meals went unmonitored across nine days without anyone catching it sooner. The log sat in the kitchen. The columns stayed blank. Supervisors signed off, or didn't. Residents complained through official channels three times in 16 days and kept getting cold food anyway.
Sunnyview's own policy, dated April 1, 2025, is unambiguous. Cooks are responsible for ensuring all foods are held at appropriate temperatures. The policy names the numbers: above 135 for hot food, below 41 for cold. The policy existed. The training presumably happened. The log was designed specifically to create a paper trail showing compliance.
The paper trail showed the opposite.
For the residents who eat every meal in that dining room, the question isn't regulatory. It's whether the food on their tray is hot. Whether someone in the kitchen checked. Whether anyone would have known if it wasn't.
In November, December, and again in December, families tried to get someone to pay attention. The food is cold. The food is always cold. The food is never warm.
Inspectors arrived on December 22. The blank logs went back to December 11.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center from 2025-12-22 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 19, 2026 · Our methodology
SUNNYVIEW NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER in BUTLER, PA was cited for violations during a health inspection on December 22, 2025.
The facility's own policy requires hot food to be held above 135 degrees.
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.