Roughly 6.2 percent of U.S. adults have a food allergy, according to a 2021 CDC report; however, that number does not reflect all restricted diets young adults adopt, reports The New York Times. These dietary restrictions are reshaping the traditional dining hall experience.
The need for specially catered meals is growing: at Michigan State University, roughly 16.7 percent of students have an allergy or dietary restriction, up from 12.5 percent five years ago.
Today’s dining halls must cater to a student body with diverse needs and preferences. The recent addition of soy as a major food allergen highlights the need for dining services to remain up to date about the latest dietary needs.
Companies have been recruited by school dining services to teach staff how to keep the kitchen free from major allergens. They also help devise menus to exclude basic, potentially harmful ingredients.
However, some restrictions can be difficult for dining services to fully address. For example, a student with celiac disease at Yale University said that there were only six days when she didn’t get sick from eating at the dining hall, despite eating only gluten-free items. This was because students would mix up serving spoons, increasing cross-contamination risk, and in a busy kitchen, it can be difficult for staff to guarantee the prevention of contamination.
“When you are preparing food at such a large scale,” the student said, “it would be unreasonable for me to expect them to do more than what they were already doing, which was wiping down counters, cleaning new pots and pans, [and] separating the ingredients.” Full Story (Subscription required)
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