Several instances of dishwasher malfunctions have affected the Fresh Food Cafeteria in the Residence Commons on campus, according to students who use the cafeteria frequently.
First-year English student Hailey MacLeod said there have been numerous instances where the students have been required to use paper and plastic dinnerware, and on some other occasions the cafeteria provided dinnerware that hadn’t been fully cleaned.
“I have taken cutlery with me to my table with my food a countless number of times, only to have to drop it back in the dirty cutlery basin by the sink area because it still has bits of food attached or clearly has not been properly cleaned,” MacLeod said. “Things are not going great when I have to fish for three different spoons to eat my cereal with because they’re all equally gross.”
According to David Van Dyk, district manager for Aramark, which runs the Fresh Food Cafeteria, the most recent time the dishwasher was not in service was due to maintenance being performed on the residence water line.
Van Dyk added the dishwasher “performs well considering the number of people going through the dining hall.” As to the reports of other times disposable dinnerware had to be used, Van Dyk said the replacement of a belt on one occasion due to routine maintenance was the reason.
However, MacLeod said there have been a total of two-dozen days this year they’ve been required to use disposable dinnerware, so much that students are now used to and unsurprised by the occurrences.
First-year linguistics student Ceciley Foreman, however, said she sees it as a non-issue.
“I don’t really care when the dishwasher stops working. The current system works, as long as I’ve got a plate to eat off,” Foreman said.
Both MacLeod and Van Dyk raised possible issues of the environmental impact that comes with frequent usage of disposable dinnerware. Van Dyk said, “it is in no one’s interest to serve meals on plastic plates or use plastic cutlery. There is a financial and environmental impact to that.”
Van Dyk added he is confident in the equipment, although he can’t guarantee there will be no issues in the future, pointing out that 1,500,000 meals are served each year in the Fresh Food Cafeteria.
He added any students curious about the dishwashing machine at the cafeteria should contact him to visit where it is housed.
