Sara Natividad
snatividad@mustangdaily.net
Rat infestations. Raw meat stored at high temperatures. Safety inspectors with conflicting interests.
A recent New Times article investigated these claims about Cal Poly Campus Dining using anonymous sources who said their accusations occurred within the past six months.
The article made an impact among students for its depiction of on-campus dining, but the Cal Poly officials’ responses included in the article were misleading, said Director of Environmental Health and Safety Dave Ragsdale, who was interviewed in the New Times article.
One of the controversial aspects was Ragsdale’s comment that “zero students have complained about food quality in recent years, not since an E. coli outbreak in the 2000s that affected the whole county.”
Ragsdale said the word “quality” was misused — his office only receives complaints concerning the safety of food, not the quality. For example, if a doctor diagnoses a person for food poisoning, then the doctor must pass along the information to the dining facility, Ragsdale said. It was this type of complaint that Ragsdale was referring to.
As far as being a Cal Poly employee inspecting Cal Poly facilities, Ragsdale said there are no conflicting interests in performing his job responsibilities. Before working for Cal Poly, Ragsdale was a registered environmental health specialist and worked for the county health department. Part of his job entailed inspecting restaurants, he said.
“Our first goal is always health and safety of students and employees,” Ragsdale said. “We are very tough on Campus Dining and they take our corrections very seriously.”
There were many reasons that influenced his switch from county inspections to internal safety inspections, Ragsdale said. At that time, the county only inspected Cal Poly dining facilities approximately once a year, Ragsdale said. Since the switch, the restaurants are inspected up to four times a year.
The most important aspect, however, is the power of authority. San Luis Obispo County does not have legal authority over Cal Poly since it is a state facility. This made it difficult to enforce any changes on the school, Ragsdale said. Since Environmental Health and Safety is an internal program, it has the power to enact changes and correct safety violations.
“If we direct them to do something and they don’t do it, we can make them comply by using our connections with higher administration,” Ragsdale said.
Though some of the notes from inspections are merely suggestions, any type of violation requires immediate action and the Environmental Health and Safety Department makes sure the facilities follow the correct protocol, Ragsdale said.
Despite the department’s focus on safety, some students are still unsatisfied with Campus Dining.
History freshman Carl Lehman said he is most disappointed with the lack of healthy options.
“The food here just makes me really fat,” Lehman said.
Lehman and biomedical engineering freshman Kristen Limos said they were recently discussing their frustration with the food options.
“Besides salad, there really aren’t any healthy options,” Limos said. “And eating salad all the time gets old.”
Both of the students said they would not miss anything about on-campus food and were thrilled to move off campus next year and eat “quality healthy food.”
Students who do live off campus, such as industrial technology senior Tim Romley said they are more satisfied with Campus Dining, however — especially since the addition of Subway.
Aerospace engineering sophomore Ian Peterson, who also lives off campus, doesn’t eat on campus often, but does enjoy the occasional meal from Ciao! or Jamba Juice, he said.
“If you mix it up, it’s not that bad,” Peterson said. “But if you eat it consistently, you’re not going to like it.”