With a school as small as Piedmont University, we rely on one cafeteria for our primary meals. Reports such as mold in soda fountain ice machines and improper temperatures for food led to the lowest food service inspection report we have seen in recent years. Students have to wonder, “Is our safety at risk?”

With over 2,500 students enrolled, not including the general public, who also pay to dine, we have a variety of restrictions, such as dietary and immunity. This is why stations such as G8 have been an intentional solution for students in need. But when it comes to students with chronic immunity weaknesses, where is the solution for them? It isn’t fair to the students if they spend money to live on-campus but don’t feel safe enough to utilize their meal plan.

Meal plans are mandatory for residential students, with the lowest annual price of a meal plan for students in main campus dorms being $4,640. Since Piedmont is expecting payments from us, it is only fair we should expect quality from them. According to the caf’s health grade report, all of these violations that plummeted their grade are new violations the caf has not been assessed before.

“As a student at Piedmont who tends to get sick easily, I am concerned with the status of the caf after the past health inspection,” said sophomore Maggie Bishop. “With so many students eating in the caf a day, I feel like it should be a top priority to keep the students healthy as well as providing them with a smiling face like they do most days.”

The Piedmont staff are incredibly hard-working. There isn’t a day when students don’t see Ms. Melba running around the dining hall, working to make sure is in peak condition for the students. These cafeteria workers come into the Commons daily to give students a warm smile and three meals a day. So, what happened to receive this rating? Was this a matter of oversight and neglect or an unfortunate human error? Either way, there is a lot on the line for students, who should never have to consider spending their hard-earned money to eat elsewhere because they don’t feel safe eating at our beloved campus.

“It’s very off-putting to hear about this,” said junior Gabe Richman, “but you can’t blame the staff. They work hard, but it’s a lot of work to feed such a large student body.”

Brad Clark, the manager for Chartwell’s Dining, released a statement to The Roar staff on how the leadership plans to address these violations: 

“First and foremost, I want to assure you that my team and I take this matter very seriously and are promptly taking action. We take pride in creating great dining experiences for the Piedmont community. Chartwell’s Quality Assurance team has been on-site to audit and provide additional training for the Piedmont Dining Managers. Please be assured that we are fully dedicated to addressing these concerns promptly and effectively. 

Piedmont Dining is committed to investigating any report or issue that is identified and thoroughly investigated.

Health and Safety Measures from our team:

• All Piedmont Dining Managers are trained and ServSafe certified in food service safety.
• All Piedmont Dining team members must undergo regular food safety training.
• All equipment is regularly cleaned, disinfected and sanitized at the end of each shift.”