Cleaner College Campus Cafeteria

PLU will soon be adapting its dining procedures to the National Association of College and University Food Services guidelines. NACUFS is an organization with goals to “assists members and advances the collegiate foodservice industry by providing insight, education, services, and knowledge exchange,” according to their mission statement located on their website.

The implementation of NACUFS’ sanitation policies are in line for use and the staff will soon become more associated with the policies. According to the Dining and Culinary Services Director, Erin McGinnis, the changes that are to take place have the potential to raise the already high expectations of PLU’s food services.

McGinnis says, “I think we will be working over J-Term to get a formalized policy on food borne illness in place by the start of spring semester. We already comply with health department regulations, of course. But, I would like to see a formalization of policy similar to the NACUFS documents on our campus as soon as possible. So, we will shoot for February.”

Although the University of Puget Sound does not see NACUFS being an attribute to their kitchen they are a clean place to cook and eat, considering the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department uses them as a training site.

PLU’s dining services cover eight establishments and six of those are operational. Of those institutes, there are 18 reported health code violations during inspections that took place within the last two years. University of Puget Sound, however, hold 13 food-serving institutions and 12 are operational and of those, inspectors reported 25 violations.

In the area near PLU there are many places to choose from in which students may eat. Ten specific places, including Farrelli’s, Garfield Espresso and Bagel, Chopsticks, Pita Pit, and Frugal’s, have 51 reported incidents of violations.

Murray Stopherd, Director of Dining Services at UPS, has been in the restaurant business for many years. He says, “Generally colleges and universities have a better handle on things. Go into a kitchen and it’s like ‘It’s great!’ or ‘Oh my gosh, get me out of here!’”

NACUFS will soon be a part of the PLU campus because the food borne illness protocols are a more thorough form of regulation than the health department. The health department is set up only for the potential for illness.

“We try getting the workers to think of what they would expect when they go to a restaurant,” said McGinnis.

There are many protocols and procedures for breakouts, such as the ones that occurred this summer involving tomatoes and peppers. Both McGinnis and Stopherd said that they immediately took the produce off the shelves and the menus.

According to the Communicable Disease Report of 2002-06 in 2004 and 2006, Pierce County incidence rates exceeded Washington State for enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and since laboratories do not routinely screen stool specimens for E. coli EHEC Rose Silloway, Food Safety Supervisor
at the health department, suggests asking for a screening.

In order for the health department to be successful in fulfilling their task they must not keep different organizations held to different standards. The creation of the department is for approving water intake, menus, facilities, dealing with complaints, and most of all to educate, among many other things.

“There is more to food services than just how we handle the food,” said McGinnis.

When a person does contract a food borne illness there are a few steps to take. First, the health department has a general line to contact someone regarding symptoms. Second, the person can see a doctor and have them take a stool sample. Third, if the doctor diagnoses them with an illness they should report it to the health department within three days because they will be required to give information of what and where they ate within that allotted time.

McGinnis agrees with the health department on many things and one of the most important that NACUFS shows is the education side of working with food. Also, NACUFS is going to be used as a continual reminder of how the employees are doing their jobs.

“Every day we should be prepared and getting people to understand why we keep sanitation rules,” says McGinnis.

The process for sanitation inspections changes based on the risk of the facility. Because PLU and UPS are both facilities that contain foods that need refrigeration or because their food goes through many processes, they are both considered high risk. Any facility with a fridge must have an updated permit to operate every year. If the permit is not adequate due to multiple numbers of complaints and violations, the government shuts them down.

McGinnis and Stopherd both said that they have never had to fire anyone regarding improper handling of food or for health code violations. McGinnis says she considers it a learning experience for those involved.

In Pierce County, the most commonly reported disease is Salmonella with 312 reports between 2002 and 2006 and the least commonly reported is Cryptosporidium with 31 reports.

Bringing NACUFS to PLU will lower the amount of risk that there is for students to catch a food borne illness. The guidelines that will be set into place are a part of a 500-page policy that includes how PLU will handle food and food borne illnesses.

            McGinnis says that the relationship PLU has with the health department is good because it provides the codes required to sustain the food service. Since NACUFS is a separate entity from the government it can focus on other things that may be more important, such as educating students in food, providing scholarships, recipes from schools and contests for people to contribute.

NACUFS is going to be a daily version of what the government is supposed to be for all food providers. There are goals that this association has created and many of them are oriented towards education and learning. What is better environment for them to be a part of than a school?

Overall, the new guidelines for spring will help PLU obtain a higher form of sanitation compared to local eateries and universities.

 

ENTERIC DISEASES Reported 2002- 2006
	Campylobacter	Cryptosporidia	E. coli (EHEC)	Giardia	Salmonella	Shigella
Pierce County	207	31	73	130	312	109
Washington	4874	379	758	1817	3267	906

 

NACUFS

www.nacufs.org

 

Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department

http://www.doh.wa.gov/

 

For reporting food borne illnesses:

(253) 798-6460

 

For inspection reports:

http://www.tpchd.org/page.php?id=203