Hillside Health Care Center: Cold Food Violations - MO]
Inspectors visited Hillside Health Care Center on April 19 and 20, 2026, and found cold food being served repeatedly across multiple hallways, to multiple residents, on multiple days. Six of 33 sampled residents described the same problem. The facility's census was 149.
One of those residents had anorexia.
That resident, identified in inspection records only as Resident 12, told inspectors on April 19 that food was most always served cold. He or she said the eating disorder was already a struggle, and the cold food made it worse. It made him or her not want to eat it.
The facility's own dietary policy, dated July 2023, is direct: warm foods must reach 135 degrees Fahrenheit. If food falls short, staff are supposed to reheat it or return it to the kitchen. The policy exists. The thermometer readings suggest it was not being followed.
Resident 3, who has type two diabetes and was cognitively intact, told inspectors at 7:27 in the morning on April 20 that the food tasted terrible and was always cold. Resident 5, who has chronic kidney disease, said food was most always cold when it was delivered. Resident 78 said it was cold a lot of the time. Resident 148 said it could sometimes be cold.
These were not isolated complaints from a single difficult morning.
Inspectors observed the 300 south hallway breakfast service on April 19 at 9:01 a.m. Breakfast arrived in Styrofoam boxes. The sausage patty was 81.5 degrees. The scrambled eggs were 80.7 degrees. Cream of wheat, which should hold heat better than most foods, came in at 118 degrees, still 17 degrees below the facility's own minimum. All three items were recorded as cold.
The following afternoon, inspectors watched the lunch cart roll through the 200 hallway. The cart was uncovered. The plates had no coverings either. Pasta with meat measured 120 degrees, described as lukewarm. Mixed vegetables measured 108 degrees and were cold.
The Regional Certified Dietary Manager, interviewed on the morning of April 24, said he would expect food to be delivered at a safe and palatable temperature. He would expect staff to return food to the kitchen if it was too cold. The administrator said the same thing that morning. So did a staff member identified in records only as O, who noted the policy existed specifically to avoid sickness.
Everyone interviewed agreed on what should happen. None of them explained why it wasn't.
For most residents, cold food is a quality-of-life failure, a meal that arrives unappetizing and stays that way. For someone already struggling to eat, it is something more. Resident 12 did not say the cold food caused a medical crisis. He or she said it made eating harder. In a facility setting, for someone with anorexia, harder can become dangerous without anyone marking the moment it crossed over.
The inspection was conducted as a complaint survey. Someone contacted regulators. The findings confirmed what that person reported.
Hillside Health Care Center is located at 1265 McLaran Avenue in St. Louis.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Hillside Health Care Center from 2026-04-24 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 15, 2026 · Our methodology
HILLSIDE HEALTH CARE CENTER in SAINT LOUIS, MO was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 24, 2026.
Six of 33 sampled residents described the same problem.
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.