Dining Services Takes Steps against Allergen Cross-Contamination
Salad bar one in the Dining Hall is rid of allergens.
With the start of the semester, Dining Services is making a bigger effort to avoid contamination and provide students with allergen-free areas of the cafeteria.
According to Errol Huffman, director of Dining Services, the salad bar closest to the KOVE is now gluten-free, allergen free, vegetarian and vegan-friendly. They are addressing what he calls the “Big 8 allergens,” which includes soy, peanuts, wheat, eggs, shellfish, dairy, tree nuts and fish. To assist with this change, all of the products that contain these allergens, including dairy based dressings, cheese, meats and nuts, have now been moved to salad bar two.
In addition, Dining Services is considering placing gluten-free soups at salad bar one and keeping the other soups at salad bar two, as well as moving the Salad Toss Special out of the salad bars and onto the floor.
“My hope is that we limit the potential for cross-contamination,” said Huffman.
Kerry baker • Jul 6, 2016 at 10:31 am
Hi my daughter is at your college at CPYB ballet program. She has a very severe form of celiac disease and is struggling in the Dickinson dining hall. She feels there may be a lot of cross contamination and has been ill. She feels again to eat much other than white rice and did not feel relieved by one of the staff members on the issue. Is there any advice you can give to me or her in the issue. She is there another two and a half weeks
Surface and utensils shared with gluten products are enough to make her sick. Lat year at Dickinson she ended up at the hospital and we don’t want a repeat. Thank you