SAC "Shoebox" a Health Violation
The Suffolk County Department of Health conducted inspections at many Campus Dining Services locations two weeks ago, including the Student Activities Center, which handles 8,000 transactions every day, more than any other dining hall at Stony Brook University, Bill Sallustro, director of operations for Campus Dining Services said. There were 13 violations at the Student Activities Center (SAC), ranging from a dented can of tomato sauce to 6 employees who took off their gloves and did not wash their hands before re-gloving, according to the Suffolk County Restaurant Health Services inspection report. The most serious of the violations was the lack of storage space, particularly of refrigeration units, at the SAC. Inspectors estimated that double to triple the space is required in order to accommodate the menu and the amount of food processed at the SAC. Terrence O’Rierdan, the inspector who inspected the SAC, was unable to comment on his report. Darryl House, a chemical sales representative for Basic Chemical Solutions and whose job requires him to consult with clients to help them pass health inspections, said insufficient refrigeration units mean that the food is not being cooled to the right temperatures. The SAC “was not originally designed to cope with the enormous volume of foods that are prepared from scratch and/or assembled fresh daily,” the report said. The kitchen walk-in refrigerator barely allowed two sanitarians space to take temperatures without removing racks of foods from the space. “I call it my shoebox,” said Roseann Paruch, the food service director for the SAC. “We can only hold half a days worth of food here [at the SAC],” said Paruch. There is not enough space to hold any more than that, she said. To limit the business at the SAC, Campus Dining Services has handed free fountain drink coupons, good at any dining hall besides the SAC, out to long lines of people waiting to get into the SAC. “I have class in 10 minutes, I don’t have time to go anywhere else,” said Ammar Ahmad, a junior at Stony Brook University who was waiting in a line of more than 30 people. Chrissy Austin, assistant director at SAC dining, walked around one busy day shouting, “free fries at Kelly Dining” in an effort to get students to go to another dining hall. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has already issued a two-week notice for their reinspection at the SAC. Campus Dining Services had a meeting on Nov. 1 to discuss the appropriate changes to pass the coming inspections. |
...you haven't done all your research. It's true Campus Dining prices are a little big higher than supermarket prices per say but they don't deviate from 7-11 prices all that much. It's all about the convenience. You ask for a variety of food, long operation hours and fast service, there have to be workers there to provide it for you which will obviously bring up the food cost because after all Campus Dining is a business not a complimentary service, they do have to make money in order to stay open and I assure you it's not a whole lot. That's for that, as per these "out of the way" dining locations, this is Stony Brook campus not a huge city. I walk everywhere I go and it does not take me forever to get there. I choose to eat at all different locations and they are not that far away from each other. It's true SAC is in a more convenient location in relation to all the buildings that hold classes but Roth for example happens to be closer to Javits and I don't see how it would be out of anyone's way to eat there after they got out of class or even in between. Also if you actually had visited Roth recently you would be happy to notice that the front line has been open to all hot food/boars head sandwich station/smoothie bar from 11:30am all the way through 9:00pm. So if anyone was to go to Roth at 2:01pm they would find themselves with more choices than just "awful" Burger King and Deng Lee's food (which by the way happens to be extremely popular and I doubt "awful" had anything to do with that). In addition in Fall of 2005 through Spring 2006 front line offered all organic food which was always fresh and healthy. Campus Dining does care. As a matter of fact they take student suggestions, complains and concerns more seriously that you could imagine. After all the students are their main customers so why would they want to keep them dissatisfied?
they don't deviate from 7-11 prices all that much
I noticed that some things at the 25A 7-11 were more expensive than at the 7-11 by me, a few miles away. Just an observation.
That shoebox is probably more sanitary...
...but I digress. Campus Dining and the Faculty Student Association once again show their utter lack of concern towards students and what we put in our bodies. In essence, we're a captive market, which allows them to charge exorbitant prices and offer subpar service, because students, especially those who live on campus and are on required meal plans, are pretty much stuck spending money that they're going to pay for whether they like it or not.
The FSA's new gimmick to offer a free soda or free fries at some out-of-the-way residential dining quad is also seriously misguided. Notice that they are not offering the free soda at some of the campuses other popular venues, like the Union Deli or Jasmine. Somehow, I don't think that saving one meal plan point is going to be very much of an incentive for any student, and the FSA should know better than that. But then again, they probably don't, so I'm not surprised.
It's also pretty amazing to hear statements from the FSA saying that they did not expect the SAC to get this much volume when it was first designed. Let's look at the facts:
- Humanities had dining facilities, which went away when it was torn down (and have not been replaced in the new structure).
- Papa Joe's used to offer an alternative for those who wanted pizza, in the Union, and was open until 9 pm. They turned it into the Kosher Deli (which is a nice, but overpriced, place to eat) and Papa Joes moved into Bleacher Club. Now it's only open until 4 pm and 3 on Fridays, and not at all on weekends. Where do they expect the extra students to go after those hours?
- Jasmine only accepts a certain amount of meal plan points.
- The Library and SBS had lunch counters, which are now gone. Where do you think these people are now going?
- Roth, Kelly and H-Quad only offer limited selection during off-peak hours. However, college students don't work on a 9 to 5 schedule, so not all students are having lunch at noon or 1 pm and dinner at 6 or 7 pm. Go to Roth at 2:01 pm and your only choices are an awful rendition of Burger King or an even more awful rendition of Chinese food by the name of Deng Lee's. Ditto if you go at 9:01 pm. Again, where do they expect these people to go?
- On weekends, the selection becomes even more limited, but the SAC, in the broom closet it's located in, stays open. Again, where do they expect these people to go?
- I even feel bad for those who are stuck here over the summer for classes. The SAC was until recently the only game in town, only recently joined by Jasmine. Everything else is closed, even the Kelly Deli, which would logically remain open since most summer residents live in the Undergrad Apartments and Kelly is nearest to those. They also both close at 6 pm, so if you're stuck in class until past 6, like I was when I took summer classes three years ago, you're out of luck. But before 6, I repeat once more, where do they expect these people to go?
Unfortunately though, incompetence has become synonomous with business as usual for the FSA and Campus Dining. I'm glad I moved off campus and escaped.
By the way, when is SAC Phase III going to be built again? ;)