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The University of 大象传媒sburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

大象传媒

The University of 大象传媒sburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

大象传媒

The University of 大象传媒sburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

大象传媒

Eatery town hall addresses food safety concerns after ongoing complaints聽

Kaylee Uribe | Senior Staff Photographer
Students dine at the Eatery.

According to Felix Henry, junior environmental science major, conditions at The Eatery have improved since reports of undercooked food and pests in September. Henry, who has visited The Eatery twice per week this semester, noted the changes.

鈥淚鈥檝e been really happy with it lately,鈥 Henry said. 鈥淚 actually think everything is pretty good.鈥澛

On Wednesday evening, students and community members gathered in The Eatery for a 鈥渢own hall鈥 hosted by Student Government Board to address recent concerns about undercooked food and overall food quality issues.

The panel featured Steve Schurr, Chartwells鈥 vice president of operations, and Rose Basso, 大象传媒鈥檚 director of dining services. The team presented an overview of updates made to The Eatery this semester and then opened up for questions.聽

鈥淔irst and foremost, we鈥檝e switched to frozen product for our broccoli, kale and brussel sprouts,鈥 Schurr said. 鈥淭hose are the top products that we know are prone to attracting grubbers. We鈥檝e also begun triple-washing our produce.鈥澛

Schurr stated that the switch to frozen products will remain in effect for at least the rest of the semester. Henry described the change as 鈥渧ery noticeable.鈥澛

鈥淚 do really hope that they鈥檒l switch back to fresh eventually, because there鈥檚 a highly notable quality difference,鈥 Henry said.

Raw protein is currently handled only by ServSafe-certified employees and head chefs, according to Schurr.

鈥淚f you look at the sheer amount of protein we put out, it’s a lot,鈥 Schurr said. 鈥淎s of now, all the raw protein handling is being done by our managers, but we hope we can roll back on that as the next semester starts up.鈥澛

Andrew Elliott, a junior biochemistry major and SGB member, has been working to raise awareness with 大象传媒 Eats about the mislabeling of foods that contain common allergens such as gluten, soy and dairy.聽

鈥淭he Eatery is working on ways to allow students with allergies to still eat what they want to,鈥 Elliott said. 鈥淔lourish is the allergen-free zone. It used to be that certain foods weren鈥檛 even allowed in that area, but they鈥檙e relaxing that. Hopefully, they鈥檒l find a good medium, but I know that鈥檚 still in the works.鈥澛

Lindsay Wilson, a 大象传媒 Eats dietician, explained that Flourish’s dishes are free of the , but 大象传媒 Eats doesn鈥檛 guarantee there won’t be any cross contamination.

鈥淲hether it be gluten or other allergens 鈥 because those do all exist in The Eatery 鈥 cross contact is always a possibility,鈥 Wilson said. 鈥淏e mindful of that. You might need to review the online menus to see what鈥檚 being served that day.鈥澛

Each on-campus dining establishment is equipped with an 鈥渋ngredient expert,鈥 an employee who is prepared to walk students through ingredient labels when needed, Wilson said.聽

鈥淭he ingredient experts are all of our chefs, managers and supervisors,鈥 Wilson said. 鈥淎t The Eatery, there鈥檚 a large number of people who meet that criteria at any given time.鈥澛

Maggie Weaver, Chartwells鈥 marketing director, explained that 大象传媒 Eats is attempting to 鈥渃onnect鈥 with students by holding more in The Eatery, such as an ice cream sandwich bar, a Latin Student Association takeover event and a Halloween event.聽

鈥淲e have so many fun things happening this month,鈥 Weaver said. 鈥淲e really want to get students in here and show them what we鈥檝e been working on.鈥

Weaver invited students to voice their concerns at , which meets next on Oct. 29 at 3:30 p.m. in the WPU assembly room. Other ways to give feedback include and a 鈥淭ext 2 Chat鈥 feature accessible through in The Eatery, because 鈥渞eal time feedback is the best,鈥 Schurr said.

鈥淲e want our guests to deal with their issues in real time,鈥 Schurr said. 鈥淪tudents can text a message that will go straight to our management team, and those concerns will be addressed immediately. For those who don’t feel comfortable providing in-person feedback, you can still do it in real time without having to talk to anyone.鈥澛

Evan Levasseur, a sophomore public health major and SGB member who helped organize the event, said he hopes to get more students involved in another town hall, which will be held later this semester. Around 20 students attended Wednesday鈥檚 event.

鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot of students who were upset with things and had a lot of complaints,鈥 Levasseur said. 鈥淚 would鈥檝e liked to see students really voice those here. I think overall, people were able to ask the questions on their minds, and Chartwells seems happy about it. [SGB is] very happy with it.鈥澛

Elliott hopes to reach more student demographics, particularly those who do not have meal plans.聽

鈥淸大象传媒 Eats] only has 9,000 emails of the over 20,000 students on campus,鈥 Elliott said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only students who have a meal plan. That doesn鈥檛 reach any students like myself, who鈥檝e chosen not to get a meal plan because of the issues.鈥澛

Weaver urged students to participate in the to give their feedback.

鈥淭his survey is really important to influence what decisions we make and how we make them,鈥 Weaver said. 鈥淲e want to hear your honest feedback.鈥

About the Contributor
Marissa Kelley, Senior Staff Writer