On Sept. 5, 2019, Otterbein’s new dining services, Parkhurst, had a visit from the health department. As reported by the health inspection, they had eight critical violations and 12 non-critical violations. This was the most that Otterbein University has had over the past years.
Franklin County Public Health defines critical violations as “Violations that if left uncorrected, are more likely to contribute to foodborne illness.” Non-critical violations are defined as “Violations that are not directly related to the cause of foodborne illness.”
Parkhurst dining is the new food services that Otterbein has hired over this past summer in late July. According to the General Manager of Parkhurst, Shannon Weimerskirch, it was a rush for them to get started in the kitchen. "We got dinged on things that I am not happy with, but it was kind of expected because the old employees did not have proper training,” said Weimerskirch.
Food safety is a big concern in any university, especially when there are many types of illnesses going around. Weimerskirch stated that the kitchen was not in the best condition when they arrived at Otterbein. “This is an old facility and it needs to be updated. I find it inconvenient to be cooking on the second floor,” said Weimerskirch
Other local universities have received mixed results on their food inspection reports. For example, Capital University has received 0 critical violations and 2 non-critical violations. Previous inspections were not high, except for one of their inspection they had on August 20, 2019, where they had 3 critical violations and 10 non-critical violations.
If students were to see the violations, some would not want to eat at the Nest or Den, but then there are others who think that what the dining services got dinged for are small and easy fixes.
“Although they do have multiple dings, I’m not really affected by germs like that, but I know many other people would disagree,” said Sarah Simmons, a junior Theatre BFA major. “The food quality for me, because I do not have any dietary restrictions, it’s been really good. But I do have a lot of friends who do have dietary restrictions and they don’t have many options.”
Most of the violations came from the OtterDen because of how the last company left it and the equipment needs to be updated. Weimerskirch stated that it is going to take time to get adjusted to Otterbein, but “stay tuned and hold us accountable for anything we do.”
