Kitchens at the assisted living facility Bickford of Champaign have reopened about seven weeks after receiving a red placard and failing its health inspection on Sept. 5.
Last month, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District shut down both kitchens at Bickford and suspended its health permit due to imminent health hazards, uncontrolled foodborne illness risk factors, and unsatisfactory compliance with health ordinances. This was the result of a follow-up inspection after the facility failed to meet some standards in a routine inspection in August.
“All food handling, preparation, and service must cease as of this time,” the report read.
On Oct. 23, the health district posted the reinspection report for Bickford on its website. The facility received a green placard, indicating satisfactory compliance with health standards. The report said the facility presented a food safety action plan that “addresses all violations cited during the routine and follow-up inspections.”

Six weeks after being shut down for health hazards, when the facility’s two kitchens were still closed, the facility’s Vice President of People Simone Pena said in an email to CU-CitizenAccess that the facility was working to restore them “as quickly as possible.”
“Our team is actively working with C-UPHD to address the inspection findings and restore the kitchen to full operational standards,” Pena said in an email.
While the kitchens were closed, Bickford was catering meals to its residents.
“Our residents continue receiving nutritious, high quality meals in alignment with their dietary needs and menu preferences,” Pena said.
During the seven-week closure, Bickford submitted a request for reinspection, but this initial request was denied, according to Environmental Health Director Sarah Michaels.
“The correction plan submitted was not adequate,” Michaels said. “No reinspection can be scheduled until a correction plan has been approved.”
Bickford received a yellow placard during a routine inspection on Aug. 6 with nine violations. The location has other yellow placards on record in March 2024 and August 2022.
Inspection reports reveal health risks, violation details

According to the public health website, inspection notice placards are used to “help promote consumer awareness and education” and “encourage food establishment operators to use proper food safety practices.”
The placards come in three colors. Green placards represent a food establishment’s satisfactory compliance with various standards and ordinances. Yellow placards indicate less than satisfactory compliance, but corrective actions can be made. Follow-up inspections are required after receiving a yellow placard, per health district policy.
But red placards mean the establishment is closed due to immediate threats to public health resulting from being out of compliance
The health district updates its website when new health inspections reports are available. Facilities can be searched for to find a brief summation of the location, date, and the outcome of inspections, along with access to the detailed inspection report.
Bickford’s Sept. 5 inspection resulted in eight violations and four repeat violations, including the presence of insects and rodents, the absence of toxic substances properly identified and stored, and inadequate accessibility and supplies for handwashing sinks.
According to the report, Health Inspector Rami Wilson observed roaches, improper chemical storage, different raw meats sharing the same container, rotten lettuce and more. Wilson said she could not comment on the report in response to questions from CU-CitizenAccess.
Wilson also noted the establishment lacked a Certified Food Protection Manager.
“The persons in charge did not demonstrate adequate food safety knowledge based on the repeated violations as well as the additional violations cited during today’s follow-up inspection,” Wilson wrote in the inspection report.
Food safety key when serving elderly, immunocompromised
As an assisted living facility, Bickford’s residents are predominantly elderly.
“The biggest concern with food safety violations in a nursing home is the population they serve are immunocompromised individuals,” Michaels said.
Bickford is not the only assisted living facility that has recently had trouble passing its health inspection.
Assisted living facility Illini Heritage Rehab and Health Care has received three yellow placards so far in 2024, on Feb. 8, Aug. 13 and Aug. 26. A follow-up inspection on Sept. 12 resulted in a green placard.
Carriage Crossing Senior Living, located in Champaign, has only received green placards so far this year, yet received multiple yellow placards in the past. The most recent less-than-satisfactory inspection was in July 2023.
Meanwhile, Champaign assisted living facility Evergreen Place has only one record of a yellow placard in the last five years — a routine inspection in January 2023.
With these facilities predominantly housing elderly individuals, it is often assumed these residents are more susceptible to foodborne illnesses, according to University of Illinois Associate Professor of Applied Food Safety Matt Stasiewicz.
“Usually we assume that [assisted living residents] are in a bucket of folks that might have various reasons to have a weaker immune system, either being elderly or having other health conditions,” Stasiewicz said in an interview.
According to Bickford’s Sept. 5 inspection, the facility had cross-contamination with raw animal products. A “chub” of ham was being kept in the same container as raw ground beef, leaking blood onto the ham.
“If you handle food improperly or store it improperly, it could increase the risk of foodborne illness,” Stasiewicz said. “If you’ve got cross-contamination, something like raw meat or poultry, and there’s a pathogen that can get to something else, certain organisms can grow.”
Stasiewicz noted the four main standards for food handling set by the Food and Drug Administration: cook, clean, separate and chill.
He recommended food handlers in assisted living facilities should “make sure that you do [the standards] extra well if you are serving potentially immunocompromised people in an institution.”