By: Georgia Caroline Patterson
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – Dining halls on campus have made finding a meal harder for some students on campus. Some dietary restrictions on campus are not being met or are becoming hard to find with limited options.
The University of Arkansas requires all students living on the campus to purchase a meal plan. Yet not all students can find meals they are able to eat.
Dining Halls on campus such as Fulbright Dining Hall have a specifical choice of options ‘The Green Table’ that is free form the top nine allergens. When students have to eat from ‘The Green Table’ because of their allergies they are usually only given less than three options to choose from.
This discourages students from eating in the dining hall because of the poor choices. Students said that sometimes there haven’t been allergen free meals available on sparse days.
Food on the Hill said that they make meals available to every student with any dietary restriction, but many students disagree.
According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America over 20 million Americans have food allergies. 6.2 percent of adults have food allergies and 5.8 percent of children.
An on-campus dietician for Food on the Hill said, “The Green Table on campus is one of the largest resources on campus for students that have food allergies. This is an area that avoids all top nine allergens and gluten.”
Other dining halls on campus have restaurants such as Chick-Fil-A and others that contain the top nine allergens. These restaurants make dining halls a harder place to find food because of cross contamination, the smells in the air and the small amount of allergen free food.
A sophomore student at the University of Arkansas Scarlett Patterson said, “There have been times that the food allergen menu has not been available, sometimes they have it and sometimes they don’t.”
Patterson said that another large issue she has come across when dining on campus is cross contamination and employees being uneducated regarding food allergies and ingredients.
Patterson said, “there was a time that I asked a dining hall employee if a certain food item contained or was cross contaminated with tree nuts and the employee did not know what a tree nut was.”
Cross contamination is a large issue on campus that students with food allergies struggle with. The same tables, saltshakers, and chairs are used by students that eat food with different ingredients. This is dangerous for students with food allergies because of the unknown prior food ingredients touching the table.
Cross contamination leaves the dining halls and follow students around on campus every day. When students touch food that contain allergens the students then touch elevator buttons, door handles, desks and more across campus and this is dangerous for allergic students to touch.
Food on the Hill said they take extra safe precautions with cross contamination in the dining hall kitchens by preparing food separated and using different serving spoons for each dish.
Dining hall employees taking safety precautions such as wiping down tables, changing gloves and keeping food separate will keep students on campus safe.