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.