Bugs, plastic and critical violations in the Student Center Café
An insect was discovered in a cooked chicken served at the Student Center Café. // Photo Courtesy of Tainaya White.
This fall semester, Hofstra students have been outraged and consistently voiced their thoughts on the high food prices and quality of food served on campus. However, another important concern is what some students have found in their on-campus food, including but not limited to plastic, hair, an insect and a wasp. On Oct. 2, the Nassau County Department of Health conducted a food service establishment inspection at the Student Center Café in which three critical violations were found.
Two of the violations included “Improper Cooling and Refrigerated Storage of Potentially Hazardous Foods” and “Improper Hot Holding of Potentially Hazardous Foods,” as labeled on the Freedom of Information Act request which can be publicly requested. However, the Nassau County Health Department did a follow-up inspection on Oct. 17 in which no critical violations were found.
On Nov. 18, Tainaya White, a junior pre-health major with a concentration in disability studies, found a dead insect in her chicken that she received from the Student Center Café. She sent a text to the Student Advisory GroupMe, a group chat where selected Hofstra students and faculty can communicate campus-related issues. She included a picture of her food along with her concerns over this hazardous issue.
White explained that she went to the Student Center Café around 7 p.m. but wasn’t hungry at the time, so she waited until 10 p.m. to open up her food that she bought earlier. As she began to eat her food, she realized something was wrong.
“Initially, I just assumed it was seasoning on the chicken, such as thyme or rosemary, but as I looked closer, I realized it was a bug,” said White. “Utter disgust and shock was my initial reaction. Because how could something like this get missed?”
Due to the incident, White said that she was paranoid and avoided eating from the Student Center Café. Instead, she started looking into alternative dining options. “I have now started eating back at the [Student Center Café] because I can’t spend money on DoorDash every day, but I have been wary and paying attention even more to what I’m being served,” White said.
When questioned about bugs being found in food at the Student Center Café and the violations they received, Campus Dining responded with the following statement:
“Campus Dining has been the proud dining services provider on campus for the past 14 years. Chef Vince Picciotto and his team of culinarians take great pride in creating safe and exceptional dining experiences for the Hofstra community and serve over 62,000 meals per week. The health and well-being of the campus community is of paramount importance to our team. Rigorous quality checks, detailed production records, food safety logs and ongoing training are assurances inherent in our daily operations. In addition:
All Campus Dining Managers are trained and certified in food service safety with the Nassau County Department of Health as well as ServSafe.
All Campus Dining culinarians and back of house supervisors are also trained and certified in food service safety with the Nassau County Department of Health as well as ServSafe.
All Campus Dining team members must undergo regular food safety training.
All equipment is regularly cleaned, disinfected and sanitized at the end of each shift.”
Compass Dining also made clear their consistent association with the Nassau County Health Department, stating, “Furthermore, we work closely with the local health department and have quality assurance protocols in place using their strict guidelines. Unannounced inspections are conducted regularly and are publicly available on the Nassau County Health Department site. Any violation cited during the inspections are addressed and corrected immediately.”
The Freedom of Information Act Request explaining the three critical violations the Student Center Café received on Oct. 2 // Photo Courtesy of Nassau County Health Department
The Student Center Café also received a non-critical violation labeled under “Inadequate Insect/Rodent Control.”
When asked why this violation was considered “non-critical,” Alyssa Zohrabian, the public health administrator and director in the offfice of communications at the Nassau County Department of Health, explained that this non-critical violation can be a common occurrence in establishments. “Sometimes, [we] see a fly or see … a mouse dropping in a corner of a kitchen, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that can contribute to the occurrences, more or less.”
“Say we found a bug in food … that would be considered an adulteration of the food and that would definitely be considered a critical violation, the worst that you can get, actually,” she said. “If we receive a complaint about a food service establishment, we’ll go out and inspect that and investigate that claim.”
Some students were unsure if they should speak up if they encountered inedible objects in their food. Zoe Boray, a junior television production and studies major, found a square piece of black plastic in her food from the YO Bowl station at the Student Center Café this semester. This incident was not Boray’s last time finding plastic in her food, as this was the first out of two times this fall semester.
“I was just chewing my food and then I felt something hard in my mouth. And I was like, that doesn’t feel like it’s edible,” Boray said. She considered telling an employee but was unsure of who to talk to or if she would be taken seriously. “I don’t know who I would go to about this, confronting someone is kind of scary … it felt like more trouble than it was worth. But it did make me question, like, am I going to eat here again?”
As mentioned before, White sent a text to the Student Advisory GroupMe confronting the issue she faced and was met with disgust and shock from other students.
However, after sending the text, she met with the executive chef and the manager of Compass, according to White. She was refunded the entire cost of her meal and was given a $50 meal card to spend anywhere on campus. “The manager was very apologetic and understanding. He explained how they immediately cleaned up the food stations and checked for any bugs,” White said. “Not only that, he reassured me numerous times that his door and email was always open if I have suggestions or any further concerns.”
Percy Benedick, a junior film major and drama minor, had a similar experience to White, but instead of finding a dead insect, there was a live wasp in his prepackaged Au Bon Pain sandwich sold at Bits & Bytes.
“I didn’t see [the wasp] at first … it didn’t move and I thought it was dead, but as I was pointing it out to my friend and moving the package, it started moving again. That freaked me out,” he explained.
Immediately, Benedick confronted an employee about this. “I showed it to one of the [Bits & Bytes] employees who told me to just throw it away and grab a new one … I genuinely could not wrap my head around how they could have packaged that and just let a wasp get in, alive or not,” Benedick said.
Zohrabian explained that while the Student Center Café did receive three critical violations, there was no failure of inspection.
“The inspection from the second [of October] was not a failure level of action. It did require a follow-up from our department,” she stated. “We had a place in our office where the operators took over the initial action and talked about [receiving] compliance on some of the items that were observed.”
“I definitely think they should let students know if there is a critical violation so that they can avoid eating there so that they don’t get sick,” Boray said.
As a commuter, Boray also feels stuck with Hofstra’s dining options. “It’s just that bringing food from home is so difficult, and there aren’t very many good options on [the] Hempstead Turnpike other than fast food.” She admitted that she will have to continue with a meal plan despite continuing to feel “a little scared.”
Zohrabian suggested to check the Nassau County Health Department website for health inspection reports for those that are paranoid of food-borne illness or other related concerns. “The best way you really want to prevent food poisoning is cooking it yourself. Make sure foods are cooked properly,” Zohrabian said.
Campus Dining encouraged all students to speak to someone with any concerns in order to address the issue most effectively. They stated the following:
“We encourage guests with concerns to bring them to our team, which we treat with the utmost urgency. When a matter is brought to our attention, our team immediately begins a formal investigation by conducting a meeting to obtain all details. The collected information is logged and addressed, and the following additional internal steps are taken:
Checking to see if any other complaints have been filed about the same food item or dining location.
Thoroughly inspecting the location and reviewing the production log with the unit and executive chef.
Inspecting the rest of the food product in the location for potential issues such as temperature abnormalities or discoloration.
Contacting the supplier/procurement department to see if there were complaints about specific food supplies.”
Zohrabian concluded that if any person is experiencing food poisoning to seek medical attention immediately and then call Nassau County Health Department at (516) 227-9697.
For more information on the Nassau County Health Department’s inspections with Hofstra University or to submit a FOIA request, visit https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/1652/Health-Department.
