Guardian Care and Rehabilitation: Food Safety Failure - CA
Federal inspectors found the unlabeled pie on the left side shelf inside the freezer, near the door, during a complaint inspection on December 23, 2025. It had been there since Christmas dinner, held several days earlier.
The Dietary Supervisor confirmed the finding on the spot. The pie should have been labeled with a use-by date, the supervisor said. It wasn't. The supervisor acknowledged that serving food past its use-by date was unsafe and could result in foodborne illness, posing a risk to residents and anyone else who ate it.
This was not a situation where staff lacked guidance. The facility's own written policy, dated 2023 and titled "Labeling and Dating of Foods," states plainly that all food items in the storeroom, refrigerator, and freezer need to be labeled and dated. Newly opened food items must carry an open date and a use-by date. Freezer items specifically require a receive date, an open date, and a use-by date. The pie had none of these.
The Dietary Coordinator, interviewed four days earlier on December 19, had described the requirement in the same terms: all food items stored in kitchen storage areas and other food preparation locations were required to be labeled with an open date, preparation date, use-by date, and expiration date to ensure residents' safety. The policy was understood. The pie was still sitting there, unlabeled, days later.
The Assistant Director of Nursing, interviewed on the same day inspectors found the pie, said food items should be labeled properly with all dates. Residents might get foodborne illnesses from eating unlabeled foods, the ADON added.
Three staff members, on three separate occasions, said the same thing: unlabeled food is a risk. The pie remained in the freezer anyway.
The violation was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, meaning inspectors determined no resident had yet been hurt. Whether the pie was ever served, and to whom, the inspection report does not say.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Guardian Care and Rehabilitation Center from 2025-12-23 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.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: August 26, 2026 · Our methodology
GUARDIAN CARE AND REHABILITATION CENTER in MANTECA, CA was cited for violations during a health inspection on December 23, 2025.
Federal inspectors found the unlabeled pie on the left side shelf inside the freezer, near the door, during a complaint inspection on December 23, 2025.
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.