How's the food at LU? Could be better, petitioners say

A year after a series of anonymous online posts about alleged food contamination at Laurentian University's Great Hall cafeteria prompted an internal investigation, an online petition is demanding changes to food service.

Last year, the university completed a $2-million renovation to its 50-year-old Great Hall cafeteria.

It now features an all-you-can eat style dining venue under the name Fresh Food Company, run by Aramark, Laurentian's food service provider since 2001.

Shortly after the revamped facility opened, a series of photos showing alleged food contamination at the cafeteria began appearing on the anonymous student Facebook site UMentioned Laurentian.

That included photos last fall of a bug in a salad, undercooked red meat, and plastic and hair in food. The university's student newspaper, Lambda, wrote a story about the issue at the time.

Other photos have appeared since on the website, including a photo posted this past Nov. 18 showing a spot of mould on a sandwich allegedly purchased at the Great Hall.

While Aramark launched an investigation as a result of the photos, the company's Laurentian food service director said the results were inconclusive.

Jean-Louis Guyot said Aramark also does weekly, monthly and quarterly audits on all aspects of its operations, and everything came up fine.

“Anything that's posted on there, whether it's anonymous or not, we look into, regardless,” he said. “We don't treat it any differently. We take everything 100 per cent seriously, and investigate based on that.”

Earlier this fall, prompted in part by the UMentioned photos and his own concerns about the nutrition of the cafeteria food, third-year Outdoor Adventure Leadership student Chris Hilborn started an online petition.

Signed by 252 people to date, it demands the university stop mandatory meal plans or seek to replace Aramark as the school's food service provider.

The student complains that Great Hall food is of poor quality, featuring frozen meals, processed foods and foods high in carbohydrates.

Besides the Great Hall renovations, the university has also added a number of other food service options, including a Starbucks, Subway, Topper's Pizza and bistro in its East Residence, and has plans to add more.

To sustain this level of food service, in 2014 Laurentian made meal plans worth thousands of dollars mandatory for students in several of the university's residences.

Laurentian was one of the last universities in Ontario to introduce mandatory meal plans. Hilborn said he pays about $1,800 for a meal plan, even though he tries to avoid the cafeteria, opting instead to purchase groceries.

Beyond the online complaints, Hilborn said he's received such complaints in person. He also said not everyone agrees with him about the university's food service, as some like the cafeteria food.

Guyot said the university provides plenty of vegan and vegetarian options, and often uses local food. Cafeteria staff are willing to accommodate students who have special diets.

The fact that there's now a petition doesn't disappoint Guyot, though. He sees it as constructive, he said.

“Any feedback that we get is good feedback,” he said. “Anything we can work on, we take that to heart.”

Coincidentally, Laurentian is in the midst of gathering request for proposals for a food service provider. It will issue a five-year contract (with an option to extend that contract another five years) that begins June 1, 2016.

Guyot was unable to say whether or not his company bid on the contract.

Ben Demianiuk, Laurentian's director of housing and food services, said stakeholder feedback will be taken into consideration in awarding the new contract, as it was in making the changes to food service.

He said he's also aware of the petition, and had even met with Hilborn, repeating Guyot's statement that any feedback is good feedback.

He said he's always happy to meet with students, staff and faculty about their concerns. Once a month, students, staff and faculty are even offered free pizza in exchange for ongoing feedback.

But Demianiuk said he hasn't heard from many students upset about food service.

“One of the most common comments I get is how happy people have been with the changes,” he said.

He said he is aware of the posts on UMentioned Laurentian, and said he'd prefer if students contact him directly, as there's no way to verify whether or not these anonymous posts are true.