Food Safety
Our Commitment to our Customers
- Food Safety is our guiding principle. Student Programs' Housing and Dining Services believes a customer's well-being comes
first and has established food safety as its guiding principle. A comprehensive food safety plan has been developed and is in place to help prevent foodborne illnesses.
- HACCP program. In 1999, Housing and Dining Services developed and
implemented an extensive HACCP program. HACCP, which stands for Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Points, is a program that analyzes all aspects of the
production of the food and sets up safeguards to ensure that the food is safe.
A HACCP program is considered the best way the industry has of ensuring that
the food production process is the safest it can be. In designing this program,
Housing and Dining Services worked extensively with the Virginia Cooperative
Extension's Food Safety Specialist and the Montgomery County Health Department.
In addition to assistance in designing the program, Extension also provided
HACCP training for all management staff in Housing and Dining Services. Completion
of these classes gives participants a joint certification from the Virginia
Department of Health and Virginia Cooperative Extension. Housing and Dining
Services was the first department in the Commonwealth to have employees receive
such certification.
- Training. As part of our commitment to food safety, we have also created an in-house training program, Serving Safe Food, which new dining employees must complete as part of their orientation. Also, all management and supervisory staff must complete and pass the National Restaurant Association ServSafe® Food Protection Manager Certification Program. Currently, we have 130 employees certified in this program.
Maintaining Sanitary Facilities
- Annual Inspections. Housing and Dining Services works very closely
with the local Health Department in creating sanitary facilities. Also, in
the fall of 2000, Housing and Dining Services contracted with an independent
company, Steritech®, to inspect our facilities semiannually for sanitation.
These unannounced inspections are in addition to the Health Department inspections.
They have the sole purpose of ensuring that we are maintaining our facilities
in a sanitary manner at all times. While it is unrealistic to expect any operation
to have no violations during an inspection, we pride ourselves in keeping
these violations to a minimum. Violations can be deemed either critical or
non-critical and while the term "critical violation" sounds severe, it is
possible for an operation to have a critical violation while still maintaining
an overall rating close to 100 percent, which is still a grade of A+.
- Action Plans. As part of our commitment to Food Safety, Action Plans
are created after every annual Health Department inspection. These plans detail
what steps will be taken to resolve any situations identified during the Health
Department Inspection. In addition, any training needs are identified and
personnel are designated to oversee all corrective actions. These plans are
written within 24 hours of the inspection and are then sent to the Health
Department for its review and approval. To view any of these plans, select
one of the dining centers to the right.
- Equipment. Our emphasis on food safety goes beyond training, systems,
and inspections. In 1999, we invested $100,000 in blast chillers to cool hot
foods quickly in order to stop the potential growth of bacteria. In addition,
we have spent approximately $50,000 over the last two years to provide better
hot holding and heating equipment. These cabinets and heating units over the
serving lines will ensure that hot holding temperatures are above 140°F,
the temperature necessary to inhibit the growth of bacteria.
This commitment to food safety and sanitation is found in everything we do in Housing and Dining Services. It is important to us that students,
parents, and administrators understand the extent of our commitment and feel secure in their dining experiences on our campus.
