Faculty Dining Hall Also Cited

The student cafeteria is not the only dining facility on Hampton University's campus with sanitation problems.

Holly Tree Inn, the faculty dining hall, has received 111 violations in the past three years, according to a Hampton Script analysis of health reports across the region.

Eighteen of those violations were critical.

The student cafeteria received 261 violations, 40 of which were critical, during that same period.

The violations included employees putting toxic chemicals in unlabeled syrup containers in the president's dining suite, holding chicken at improper temperatures, and failing to mark expiration dates on perishable foods.

The dining hall averaged 8.5 violations per inspection, compared with roughly 15 in the student cafe.

Six percent of all the violations were critical, compared with 15 percent in the student cafeteria. Critical violations are those more likely to contribute to food-borne illnesses.

In May 2003, the dining hall failed its inspection after being cited for six critical and 15 minor violations.

The faculty dining hall is run by Gourmet Services Inc., which also manages the student cafeteria.

Daarel Burnette II, a student at Hampton University, is campus editor of The Hampton Script.

Posted April 16, 2004