Quality control issues hit Dining Services
Questions arise over food standards at URI dining halls after dozens of cases of expired condiments were thrown away.
Justin Oswald
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News
McCullough's e-mail addressed the crux of the problem in Gianquitti and other administrators' eyes: the Ram's Den does not do as much business as Dining Services projected it would after Hope Commons opened.
"I misjudged the product that was going to be used in the course of the semester," Gianquitti said, referring to her food orders for this year. "I expected students would go to the Ram's Den at a rate higher than they are."
Ahmed Bharoocha, who has worked at the Ram's Den for six years, said he believes the sharp fall-off of customers in the Ram's Den has affected the quality of the food.
"When we lose our customers, the quality of everything goes down," Bharoocha said.
Last week, a Cigar reporter saw Ken's Lite Mayonnaise in the Ram's Den refrigerator that was manufactured in June 2007.
Amy Skolonick, a customer service representative for Ken's, said, "Mayonnaise is only good for four months from the date they were manufactured." After the four months Skolonick said, "it should be discarded." Once opened, the product is recommended to be used within 14 days.
The mayonnaise in the Ram's Den refrigerator has been out of code for more than five months. In addition to the mayonnaise, French dressing and deli mustard manufactured in July 2007 were also in the refrigerator.
People familiar with Dining Services procedures said that the misestimate of the Ram's Den's traffic was not the only reason for items going out of code.
"Some products will go out of code and that's inevitable when you're buying in bulk," Brian Jenkins, a four-year employee of Dining Services, said. He added, "We're running out of space … and it's just difficult to check things all the time because of the sheer quantity that comes in."
Quantity was not the only facet of the food that bothered Jenkins, who noted that not all products come with clear expiration dates.
"A lot of products that we get don't have a code date. So sometimes we don't even know if a product has gone bad. Normally there shouldn't be any product that has gone bad," Jenkins said.
"I misjudged the product that was going to be used in the course of the semester," Gianquitti said, referring to her food orders for this year. "I expected students would go to the Ram's Den at a rate higher than they are."
Ahmed Bharoocha, who has worked at the Ram's Den for six years, said he believes the sharp fall-off of customers in the Ram's Den has affected the quality of the food.
"When we lose our customers, the quality of everything goes down," Bharoocha said.
Last week, a Cigar reporter saw Ken's Lite Mayonnaise in the Ram's Den refrigerator that was manufactured in June 2007.
Amy Skolonick, a customer service representative for Ken's, said, "Mayonnaise is only good for four months from the date they were manufactured." After the four months Skolonick said, "it should be discarded." Once opened, the product is recommended to be used within 14 days.
The mayonnaise in the Ram's Den refrigerator has been out of code for more than five months. In addition to the mayonnaise, French dressing and deli mustard manufactured in July 2007 were also in the refrigerator.
People familiar with Dining Services procedures said that the misestimate of the Ram's Den's traffic was not the only reason for items going out of code.
"Some products will go out of code and that's inevitable when you're buying in bulk," Brian Jenkins, a four-year employee of Dining Services, said. He added, "We're running out of space … and it's just difficult to check things all the time because of the sheer quantity that comes in."
Quantity was not the only facet of the food that bothered Jenkins, who noted that not all products come with clear expiration dates.
"A lot of products that we get don't have a code date. So sometimes we don't even know if a product has gone bad. Normally there shouldn't be any product that has gone bad," Jenkins said.
