Eatery town hall addresses food safety concerns after ongoing complaints 

According to Felix Henry, junior environmental science major, conditions at The Eatery have improved since reports of undercooked food and pests in September. Henry, who has visited The Eatery twice per week this semester, noted the changes.

“I’ve been really happy with it lately,” Henry said. “I actually think everything is pretty good.” 

On Wednesday evening, students and community members gathered in The Eatery for a “town hall” hosted by Student Government Board to address recent concerns about undercooked food and overall food quality issues.

The panel featured Steve Schurr, Chartwells’ vice president of operations, and Rose Basso, Pitt’s director of dining services. The team presented an overview of updates made to The Eatery this semester and then opened up for questions. 

“First and foremost, we’ve switched to frozen product for our broccoli, kale and brussel sprouts,” Schurr said. “Those are the top products that we know are prone to attracting grubbers. We’ve also begun triple-washing our produce.” 

Schurr stated that the switch to frozen products will remain in effect for at least the rest of the semester. Henry described the change as “very noticeable.” 

“I do really hope that they’ll switch back to fresh eventually, because there’s a highly notable quality difference,” Henry said.

Raw protein is currently handled only by ServSafe-certified employees and head chefs, according to Schurr.

“If you look at the sheer amount of protein we put out, it’s a lot,” Schurr said. “As of now, all the raw protein handling is being done by our managers, but we hope we can roll back on that as the next semester starts up.” 

Andrew Elliott, a junior biochemistry major and SGB member, has been working to raise awareness with Pitt Eats about the mislabeling of foods that contain common allergens such as gluten, soy and dairy. 

“The Eatery is working on ways to allow students with allergies to still eat what they want to,” Elliott said. “Flourish is the allergen-free zone. It used to be that certain foods weren’t even allowed in that area, but they’re relaxing that. Hopefully, they’ll find a good medium, but I know that’s still in the works.” 

Lindsay Wilson, a Pitt Eats dietician, explained that Flourish’s dishes are free of the top ten common allergens, but Pitt Eats doesn’t guarantee there won’t be any cross contamination.

“Whether it be gluten or other allergens — because those do all exist in The Eatery — cross contact is always a possibility,” Wilson said. “Be mindful of that. You might need to review the online menus to see what’s being served that day.” 

Each on-campus dining establishment is equipped with an “ingredient expert,” an employee who is prepared to walk students through ingredient labels when needed, Wilson said. 

“The ingredient experts are all of our chefs, managers and supervisors,” Wilson said. “At The Eatery, there’s a large number of people who meet that criteria at any given time.” 

Maggie Weaver, Chartwells’ marketing director, explained that Pitt Eats is attempting to “connect” with students by holding more events in The Eatery, such as an ice cream sandwich bar, a Latin Student Association takeover event and a Halloween event. 

“We have so many fun things happening this month,” Weaver said. “We really want to get students in here and show them what we’ve been working on.”

Weaver invited students to voice their concerns at Pitt Eats’ monthly dining student advisory session, which meets next on Oct. 29 at 3:30 p.m. in the WPU assembly room. Other ways to give feedback include HappyOrNot Kiosks and a “Text 2 Chat” feature accessible through signage in The Eatery, because “real time feedback is the best,” Schurr said.

“We want our guests to deal with their issues in real time,” Schurr said. “Students can text a message that will go straight to our management team, and those concerns will be addressed immediately. For those who don’t feel comfortable providing in-person feedback, you can still do it in real time without having to talk to anyone.” 

Evan Levasseur, a sophomore public health major and SGB member who helped organize the event, said he hopes to get more students involved in another town hall, which will be held later this semester. Around 20 students attended Wednesday’s event.

“I think there’s a lot of students who were upset with things and had a lot of complaints,” Levasseur said. “I would’ve liked to see students really voice those here. I think overall, people were able to ask the questions on their minds, and Chartwells seems happy about it. [SGB is] very happy with it.” 

Elliott hopes to reach more student demographics, particularly those who do not have meal plans. 

“[Pitt Eats] only has 9,000 emails of the over 20,000 students on campus,” Elliott said. “It’s only students who have a meal plan. That doesn’t reach any students like myself, who’ve chosen not to get a meal plan because of the issues.” 

Weaver urged students to participate in the Pitt Dining Survey to give their feedback.

“This survey is really important to influence what decisions we make and how we make them,” Weaver said. “We want to hear your honest feedback.”