Resident Food Safety at Risk? F-813: Personal Food Brought into Facility

Issue No. 2 — July 8, 2025

Resident Food Safety at Risk? F-813: Personal Food Brought into Facility

While the focus often lands on dietary department practices, CMS’s F-813 tag reminds us: residents’ personal food and snacks can also create risk when not handled properly.

What Does F-813 Cover?

F-813 requires facilities to ensure food brought in by family, staff, or residents themselves is stored, labeled, and maintained safely. This includes:

  • Monitoring temperature-sensitive items

  • Preventing expired or spoiled foods in resident rooms

  • Educating families and residents on proper food safety

Survey Triggers for F-813:

  • Spoiled or expired food found in resident refrigerators

  • No dating or labeling on family-provided items

  • No documented policy on how personal food is managed

  • Unsafe food storage practices in common areas or resident rooms

Smart Tips to Stay Compliant:

  1. Create a Personal Food Policy
    Include labeling, dating, storage, and discard procedures. Make sure it's in your resident handbook and posted in common kitchen areas.

  2. Designate Responsibility
    Assign staff (typically dietary aides or STNAs) to check personal refrigerators weekly—and document it. Include this check in your quality assurance rounds.

  3. Educate Families
    Use signage and family newsletters to remind loved ones: “Perishable foods must be labeled, dated, and stored in designated refrigerators.”

  4. Offer Safe Alternatives
    Allow residents to request storage of temperature-sensitive items in central dietary refrigerators or offer sealed snack options.

  5. Audit During Resident Room Rounds
    Make personal food safety part of your weekly environment inspections. Be proactive—not reactive—before surveyors find something.

Did You Know?

CMS’s Interpretive Guidance encourages staff to help residents enjoy culturally appropriate and familiar foods—but safety cannot be compromised. Facilities must balance resident choice with regulatory responsibility.

Stay Ahead with Smart Bites


Next issue, we’ll unpack F-800 and person-centered menu planning. Got questions or want a policy review? Email consultants@dietarysolutions.net or visit www.dietarysolutions.net.

Ashwin Lakhi